TDP chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s bail petition hearing was posted to Thursday by the ACB court judge. The judge heard the arguments of both Naidu and the CID on Wednesday.
Arguing for Naidu, supreme court advocate Pramod Kumar Dube, told the court that Naidu deserves bail. He told the court that Naidu did nothing wrong in establishing the skill development corporation.
He told the court that IAS officer Sunitha visited Gujarat to study the skill development programmes there and had submitted a report to the AP government. The Siemens too did not raise any objections to this report, he said.
Dube also told the court that the cost evaluation committee had finalised the equipment cost of the skill development corporation. Chandrababu Naidu was not present in the committee, he said. Committee member Bhaskara Rao is on bail, he told the court. The supreme court had given him bail till November 16, he said.
Dube further told the court that Naidu was not served any notice and was simply arrested. The CID started the investigation only after arresting Naidu, he said. He raised an objection to the CID filing PT warrant against Naidu. He said that the CID had questioned him for one full day on the day of arrest. They have also questioned him for two days in the jail, he said and wondered what more information the CID is looking for.
He questioned the prerogative of the CID in filing cases against Naidu for the decisions taken by the cabinet.
Arguing for the CID, additional advocate general Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy told the court that the skill development case went around Chandrababu Naidu. All the accused in the case have received some or the other benefit from the programme, he said.
He said that the state government had held enquiry into the case in 2018 following reports from the CBI. However, the case was then kept aside, he told the court. Every decision taken by the officials in the skill development case were duly followed by Chandrababu Naidu’s instructions, he said.
Sudhakar Reddy further told the court that Naidu’s PA Srinivas and associate Manoj Vasudev were absconding abroad. He said that these two were also involved in the skill development case.
