The Supreme Court on Tuesday postponed the hearing on TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu’s plea challenging the dismissal of his petition to quash an FIR against him. The FIR was filed in connection with the Skill Development Corporation scam case. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi asked the Andhra Pradesh government to provide all materials related to the case that were produced before the high court. The hearing has been rescheduled for October 9.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the Andhra Pradesh government, argued that Naidu’s petition should be rejected as it does not warrant section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. He stated that the provision was introduced in July 2018, while the CBI launched the inquiry into the case in 2017.
However, senior advocates Harish Salve, Abhisehk Singhvi and Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Naidu, countered that all the allegations in the FIR were related to decisions, instructions, or recommendations made by Naidu when he was the chief minister. They argued that this is a political case and section 17A should be applied.
Luthra further claimed that Naidu was being implicated in multiple FIRs as part of a clear case of regime change. The bench decided to take up the matter on Monday.
Naidu, 73, was arrested on September 9 for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation during his tenure as chief minister in 2015. This allegedly caused a loss of Rs 371 crore to the state exchequer. His judicial remand has been extended till October 5.
According to the remand report filed by the CID, Naidu was involved in a criminal conspiracy, fraudulently misappropriating government funds for personal use, disposing of public servant-controlled property, and engaging in cheating, forgery, and destruction of evidence.
Naidu, the Telugu Desam Party chief, approached the Supreme Court on September 23, seeking to quash the FIR against him in connection with the alleged scam. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had previously dismissed his petition.
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