Senior Telugu Desam Party leader and former minister Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu managed to get some breather in the forgery case filed against him by the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department for about a week.
Ayyanna was granted station bail on Thursday after a Visakhapatnam court rejected his remand on the ground that he cannot be arrested unilaterally without being given the notice under Section 41-A.
The Visakhapatnam court also found fault with the CID for registering a case against Ayyanna under Section 467 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code.
On Friday, the CID challenged this lower court order in the state high court, defending the arrest and seeking remand of Ayyanna and his sons. At the same time, Ayyanna also filed a petition in the high court asking for quashing of the case against him.
Ayyanna’s lawer argued that it was a civil case and the CID had no locus standi to file the case. The government lawyer, however, said the NOC obtained by the TDP leader was forged and a case was filed only after a preliminary inquiry.
The high court wondered why the lower court came to the conclusion that the forgery section was not applicable to the former minister. The court issued notices to Ayyanna and his sons and posted the case to November 10 for the final judgement.
It may be mentioned that CID deputy inspector general Sunil Kumar said cases were registered against Ayyanna Patrudu and his two sons – Vijay and Rajesh – under sections 464 (making a false document), 467 (forgery), 471 (fraudulently using a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, based on a complaint lodged by the Irrigation department’s executive engineer on September 13.
According to the complaint, Ayyanna Patrudu along with his two sons had resorted to encroachment of two cents of land on Ravanapalli irrigation canal to construct the compound wall of their house.
The complainant said the TDP leader had forcibly obtained the attestation from an executive engineer level officer on a no-objection certificate (NOC).
Stating that the sign and seal on the NOC turned out be fake, the DIG said a detailed inquiry would be conducted in this regard. He said Ayyanna Patrudu and his son Rajesh were arrested, while Vijay was absconding.