AP govt wouldn't arrest Chandrababu Naidu till October 18 in FiberNet scam: SC told

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi also issued notice to the government on the plea of Naidu challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court order denying him anticipatory bail in the case and posted the matter for hearing on October 17.

"Issue notice. The standing counsel for the State of Andhra Pradesh accepts service on behalf of the respondent State. List this matter on Tuesday. If the State wants to file a counter-affidavit, they may do so by Monday with a copy to petitioners," the bench stated in its order.

During the hearing, senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Naidu, told the bench that a warrant had been issued to produce Naidu for Monday in connection with the FiberNet scam case.

Luthra raised concern regarding an imminent arrest and asked for a stay on the production warrants.

The bench asked the Andhra Pradesh police to "stay its hand" till then.

"Stay your hand. Tell the court that you are not arresting him till then," the bench told senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi who was appearing for the State.

At the court's insistence, Rohatgi agreed and assured the bench that Naidu would not be arrested till October 18 and the local court would be informed to adjourn its proceeding in the case till Wednesday.

The top court was hearing Naidu's special leave petition against an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court refusing to grant him anticipatory bail earlier this week.

The bench is also seized of another plea filed by Naidu seeking quashing of FIR registered against him rooted in a skill development scam. He has challenged the High Court judgment rejecting his plea for the quashing of FIR.

Naidu is currently in judicial custody.

Naidu has sought quashing of FIR registered by AP-CID in the alleged Rs 371 crore skill development scam on the ground that the police did not obtain prior sanction from the Governor as mandated under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

The FIR against Naidu was registered on December 9, 2021, and he was added as accused number 37 in the case on September 7, 2023. Section 17A of the PC Act was not complied with as "no permission was obtained from the competent authority", the plea stated.

As Naidu was the Chief Minister at the time of the commission of the alleged offence relating to the skill development scam, the competent authority would have been the Governor of the state.

Naidu, presently the Leader of the Opposition, the national president of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), called the action against him as "an orchestrated campaign of regime revenge and to derail the largest opposition, the Telugu Desam Party".

This motivated campaign of harassment has been allowed to continue by the Courts unabated despite patent illegality in the FIR, the appeal stated. (ANI)