AP HC restrains police from arresting Nara Lokesh in Skill Development Corporation scam

In a temporary relief to TDP leader Nara Lokesh, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday restrained the CID police from arresting him in the case relating to Skill Development Corporation Scam until October 4.

The Crime Investigation Department (CID) informed the Court that Lokesh was not named as an accused yet in the case during the hearing of an anticipatory bail application filed by the TDP general secretary.

The CID stated that there was no merit in the anticipatory bail plea as Lokesh himself has submitted that he was not an accused person in this case.

Earlier today, the CID informed the High Court that it will issue a notice under Section 41 A of the CrPC to Lokesh in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road (IRR) case for questioning.

The HC was hearing a petition filed by Lokesh seeking anticipatory bail in the IRR alignment case.

According to TDP sources, Lokesh is currently camping in Delhi, holding consultations with legal experts in connection with cases registered against his father and party chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

In a related development, Naidu’s bail application in the IRR case also came up before the High Court today.

Naidu’s counsels argued that the case was registered against him due to 'political vendetta' and the bail application filed under Section 439 of CrPC should be considered.

The CID observed that the IRR case is a 'deep rooted' economic offence with conspiracy.

It added that Naidu filed a bail application in the High Court to pre-empt the hearings in trial court.

The TDP supremo has also filed another bail application in the FiberNet scam case in the High Court, which has been posted to October 4 for hearing.

Naidu was arrested on September 9, for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation, which resulted in a purported loss of over Rs 300 crore to the state exchequer.