Rajamahendravaram: Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu was lodged at the Central Prison in Rajamahendravaram in the early hours of Monday after a court in Vijayawada sent him to judicial custody for 14 days in a multi-crore corruption case. The former Andhra Praesh chief minister reached the jail after a nearly 200-km journey to Rajamahendravaram in East Godavari district from Vijayawada.


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"Chandrababu Naidu went in the prison around 1:20 AM," East Godavari district Superintendent of Police P Jagadish was quoted saying by PTI. 


Home-cooked food, medication and a special room were among the amenities granted by the court to Naidu during his judicial custody. The 73-year-old former chief minister has been provided with a separate accommodation inside the jail in view of the purported threat to his life. He is a Z-plus category security protectee.


 



 


Naidu's son and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh trailed his father to the prison gates and waited outside for some time before leaving. According to the detention order, the judge highlighted that there are grounds to believe the accusations levelled against Naidu, and 24 hours were not enough to complete the investigation.


Naidu was arrested in the Skill Development Corporation scam case following a pre-dawn operation on Saturday at Nandyala, which involved officers knocking on the door of the caravan in which he was sleeping. He was arrested by the CID around 6 AM on Saturday from a marriage hall outside which his caravan was parked. TDP workers had staged protests at several places on Saturday when the 73-year-old leader was being brought to Vijayawada from Nandyal, where he was arrested by the CID and police were taking all precautions to foil any such protests during the journey to Rajahmundry. As a precautionary measure, police have imposed section 144 of CrPC across the state.


Arrest Illegal, Political Vendetta By YSR Govt: Naidu


 


The TDP chief himself had made submissions before the judge. He called his arrest illegal and an act of political vendetta by the YSR Congress Party government. Naidu alleged that there is no rule of law in the state as the government is violating the fundamental rights of the citizens. He also submitted to the court that the funds for skill development projects were provided in the state budget for 2015-16 and argued that the budget passed by the Assembly can’t be called a criminal act.


Appearing for Naidu, senior Supreme Court lawyer Sidharth Luthra argued that the CID did not take permission from the Governor before arresting the Leader of the Opposition. The court did not agree with the argument of Naidu’s counsel that IPC's Section 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant) does not apply in this case.


According to the CID, the Rs 371 crore scam took place between 2014 and 2018 when Naidu was Chief Minister. During the course of the investigation, 141 witnesses have been examined so far and their statements were recorded. On verification of the documents and examining the witnesses, investigation disclosed that Naidu orchestrated the deep-rooted conspiracy by playing a key role at various stages in collusion with other accused, with a preconceived plan aimed at siphoning off of the funds released from the public exchequer towards the project, the CID said.