The Supreme Court has recently scheduled to hear a plea of TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court order dismissing his petition for quashing the FIR against him in connection with an alleged scam in the Skill Development Corporation.
A bench comprising of justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi will take up the plea for hearing on October 3.
Previously on September 27, the apex court stated that it wouldn’t restrain the trial court from dealing with a plea seeking police custody of Naidu as it announced that a new bench will hear his petition for quashing the FIR in the alleged Rs.371 crore scam in the state.
The plea by Naidu, who got arrested in the case on September 9, came up before 2 benches in the top court but without any effective hearing.
Initially, it came up before the designated bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti, but the latter recused himself from hearing the matter on Wednesday.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appeared for the TDP leader, then rushed to the bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud for an urgent hearing on Naidu’s plea in view of the holidays during the week.
The CJI Chandrachud-led bench stated that a new bench will hear Naidu’s plea.
Naidu (73) got arrested for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation when he was the chief minister in 2015, causing a purported loss of Rs 371 crore to the state exchequer. His judicial remand has been extended by the trial court till October 5.
The CID in its remand report alleged that Naidu “indulged in a criminal conspiracy with the intention of fraudulent misappropriation or otherwise conversion of government funds for his own use, disposal of property which was under the control of a public servant, besides engaging in cheating, forging documents and destroying evidence”.
Naidu, the Telugu Desam Party chief, moved the top court on September 23, challenging the order of Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissing his petition for quashing the FIR against him in connection with the alleged scam. The high court rejected his plea last Friday.
Previously, on September 25, the top court asked Naidu’s lawyer to mention his petition for urgent listing on Tuesday.
While dismissing his petition for quashing the FIR, the high court noted that it was devoid of merit and stated that the court wasn’t inclined to interfere at this stage when the investigation was still going on.
The high court observed that police have the statutory right and duty under the relevant provisions of the CrPC to investigate a cognisable offence.
It had also stated that the power of quashing an FIR should be exercised sparingly with circumspection.
Noting that criminal proceedings ought not to be scuttled at the initial stage, the high court stated quashing an FIR should be an exception rather than the rule.
The former AP CM stated in his plea the video recording of his questioning by the CID was leaked to media channels “associated with the state administration” with a “mala fide” intention to defame and humiliate him, “To malign the Petitioner’s image further, the CID Chief of Andhra Pradesh & its lawyer/s gave press conference/s at different places making false allegations with the mala fide intent to defame the Petitioner and humiliate him in the eyes of the public,” Naidu’s petition said.
The TDP has termed the arrest of its leader as a ‘political vendetta” by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
