On Friday, a local Court in Vijayawada made the decision to defer the proceedings related to two bail petitions submitted by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu to a later date, specifically September 19.
Naidu, who is presently in judicial custody for a period of 14 days, faces allegations of financial impropriety linked to the Skill Development Corporation, which purportedly led to a substantial loss exceeding Rs 300 crore for the state government. In response to these allegations, Naidu filed both an interim bail plea and a regular bail application.
Special Public Prosecutor Y N Vivekananda, representing the CID, informed PTI that "the court heard the matters in detail and directed the matter to be posted to Tuesday, September 19 to enable us (CID lawyers) to file a counter affidavit." He further elaborated that the CID legal team opposed both bail requests based on their viability and also provided arguments pertaining to the merits of the case.
Vivekananda explained that they had requested the lower court to convene on September 19, considering that Naidu's legal team had not yet submitted a counter affidavit in response to the CID's custody request. Additionally, the matter is already before the High Court, and they are seeking that the High Court's directives have a binding impact on the lower court proceedings.
The special public prosecutor highlighted that Naidu's bail petitions were legally flawed and factually unsubstantiated, as both the interim and regular bail applications were submitted under the same sections, lacking any distinctive conditions to differentiate between the two. He noted that this issue had been similarly noted by the Anti-Corruption Bureau court.
Furthermore, Vivekananda underscored that an interim bail request was not suitable in this context since Naidu was already in custody. He revealed that the CID had requested an extension until September 19 to submit a counter affidavit. Instead of filing counters in response to the CID's custody pleas, Naidu's legal representatives had pursued a strategy of seeking to have the petitions dismissed, effectively seeking extensions on two occasions. However, they insisted that they would insist on submitting the counter affidavit on September 19.
Meanwhile, J Sudharshana Reddy, the Director of Prosecutions in Andhra Pradesh, pointed out that interim bail applications are typically filed in cases of family emergencies, and detainees are usually granted bail for a duration of 24 to 48 hours.
In his interim bail plea, Naidu vehemently denied all the allegations leveled against him, asserting that there was no prima facie evidence to substantiate the claims. Currently, he is detained in the Rajamahendravaram central prison.
Â
