Andhra Pradesh High Court Grants Reprieve to Nara Lokesh in Scam Cases

In a recent development, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has issued an interim order, directing the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) not to arrest Nara Lokesh, General Secretary of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), in connection with the Skill Development and AP FiberNet scams until October 4.

The High Court’s decision came in response to anticipatory bail petitions filed by Lokesh, the son of TDP supremo and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Chandrababu Naidu is already in judicial custody in connection with the Skill Development scam.

The court took up the petitions for hearing post-lunch and subsequently adjourned the proceedings until October 4. The hearing on Lokesh’s anticipatory bail petition related to the AP FiberNet case was also adjourned.

Earlier, the court disposed of Lokesh’s petition for anticipatory bail in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case after the CID assured that it would issue a notice to Lokesh under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code for questioning in the case. As there was no imminent threat of arrest in this case, the court directed Lokesh to cooperate with the investigation.

The CID had recently named Lokesh as the 14th accused in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case, while N. Chandrababu Naidu faces accusations in both the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case and the AP FiberNet case. PT (Prisoner Transit) warrant petitions have been filed against Chandrababu Naidu in the Vijayawada ACB Court.

The investigations stem from an FIR registered in May 2022, which alleged irregularities in the construction of an internal ring road in Amaravati. The complaint was filed by YSR Congress Party MLA A. Rama Krishna Reddy, who claimed that certain illegal activities occurred between 2014 and 2019, involving government officials and the design of the master plan for the Andhra Pradesh capital, resulting in wrongful gains for certain individuals.

Heritage Foods Ltd., a company owned by Chandrababu Naidu’s family, is implicated in the case. The CID is currently examining Lokesh’s role in all three scams, which purportedly transpired during Naidu’s tenure as Chief Minister, with Lokesh serving as a minister in his cabinet.