Within a couple of days of facing a humiliating defeat in the municipal elections in Andhra Pradesh, Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is facing the threat of being arrested in the sensational “Amaravati land scam.”
A team of Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) officials led by CID additional director general Sunil Kumar went to the residence of Naidu in Hyderabad on Tuesday morning and served him a notice under Section 41 (C) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The CID authorities asked Naidu to appear before the CID officer whenever he is called to depose in the case.
The CID has already registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 120 B (conspiracy) and Sections 166, 167 and 217 of the IPC, read with Prohibition of Assigned Lands Alienation Act of 1977 and the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.
Sources close to the powers-that-be said if Naidu doesn’t appear before the CID or even if he appears, if he doesn’t give satisfactory replies during the interrogation, there is every possibility of he being arrested immediately.
The CID authorities reportedly served notices on Naidu’s former cabinet colleague and then minister for municipal administration P Narayana, who has also been named in the FIR. He has also been asked o appear before the CID whenever called.
The CID has been probing into the alleged irregularities in the land pooling for Amaravati, the state capital proposed by Naidu. The TDP chief has been charged with involved in various procedural irregularities with regard to decisions taken in relation to the capital city project.
The CID fixed Naidu in connection with alienation of “assigned lands” for the capital, which is against the rules. Investigations revealed that some big people close to Naidu had purchased approximately 500 acres of assigned land after the announcement of the capital city.