Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Andhra Pradesh high court order dismissing his petition for quashing the first information report against him in the alleged multi-crore Skill Development Corporation scam, a party spokesperson said.
On behalf of Naidu, his counsels filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court challenging the judgment delivered by high court, on Friday, rejecting his plea.
“The SLP is expected to come up for hearing in a day or two,” TDP official spokesperson N Vijaya Kumar said.
Naidu was arrested on September 9 for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation when he was chief minister in 2015, which resulted in a purported loss of more than ₹300 crore to the state exchequer.
On Saturday, a team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials began interrogation of Naidu in the scam, at Rajahmundry central prison, where he has been lodged since September 11, people familiar with the matter said.
On Friday, the special court for Anti-Corruption Bureau cases in Vijayawada granted two days’ police custody of the TDP President to CID for further interrogation. The questioning is allowed from 9.30am to 5pm on both days.
The court allowed three deputy superintendents of police from the Economic Offences Wing of CID, accompanied by six more junior police officers, one professional videographer and two official mediators to participate in the interrogation.
“A team, led by DSP M Dhanunjayudu began questioning Naidu in the conference hall of the jail,” the people said. The court allowed questioning of Naidu in the jail premises itself considering the paucity of time, health and age of the former chief minister, helping him avoid the nearly 200 km-long journey from Rajamahendravaram central prison to the CID office in Mangalagiri.
On behalf of Naidu, senior advocate and former advocate general of the state Dammalapati Srinivas, was allowed to be present in the hall during the questioning.
Naidu was given a five-minute break for every hour, so that he could consult his lawyer. The jail authorities made all arrangements, including medicines and ambulance service, in case the TDP chief suffered any medical emergency due to stress during the interrogation.
