Lokesh appears before CID in Amaravati Inner Ring Road case

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh on Tuesday appeared before the Crime Investigation Department (CID) for questioning in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road alignment case.

Lokesh reached the CID office at Tadepalli before 10 a.m. The CID officials are likely to question him till 5 p.m.

The CID had served notice to the TDP leader on September 30 under section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code, directing him to appear before it on October 4.

Later, on a petition by Lokesh, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had directed the CID to postpone his interrogation until October 10. The court had asked the TDP general secretary to appear before the CID officer for questioning from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on that day, and also ordered that a lawyer should be allowed.

The CID had filed a memo in Vijayawada ACB Court on September 26, naming Lokesh as the 14th accused in the case.

Lokesh had subsequently moved Andhra Pradesh High Court for anticipatory bail in the case.

During the hearing, the CID informed the court that it will issue notice to Lokesh under Section 41A of Criminal Procedure Code.

Since the arrest was not apprehended in the case, the court disposed of TDP leader’s petition after directing him to cooperate in the investigation.

Lokesh is son of TDP supremo and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is already in judicial custody in Skill Development scam.

The CID has already named Naidu as an accused in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case and AP FiberNet case and filed Prisoner Transit (PT) warrant petitions against him in Vijayawada ACB Court.

In May 2022, the CID had registered an FIR against Chandrababu Naidu, former municipal administration minister Dr P. Narayana, Heritage Foods Ltd, and others, for alleged irregularities in the construction of an internal ring road in Amaravati.

The FIR was filed based on a complaint from YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Mangalgiri MLA A. Rama Krishna Reddy.

It was alleged that certain illegal and corrupt activities were committed by highly placed government officials between 2014 and 2019 with regard to the design of master plan for the Andhra Pradesh capital and alignment of the ring road to cause wrongful gain to certain individuals.

Heritage Foods is a company owned by Chandrababu Naidu’s family.