Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh on Friday filed anticipatory bail petitions in the Andhra Pradesh High Court in the AP FiberNet and Skill Development scams, while the Crime Investigation Department (CID) informed the court that it will issue him notice under Section 41A of Criminal Procedure Code in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case.
Lokesh’s counsel has sought an early hearing on the anticipatory bail petitions in the FiberNet and Skill Development cases.
Lokesh is son of TDP supremo and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is already in judicial custody in the Skill Development scam.
Meanwhile, the High Court on Friday took up the hearing on Lokesh’s anticipatory bail in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case.
Advocate General Subrahmanyam Sriram informed the court that Lokesh will be issued a notice under 41A of CrPC for questioning in the case.
Since the arrest is not apprehended in the case, the court concluded hearing on the TDP leader’s plea for anticipatory bail.
The CID had on Tuesday filed a memo in Vijayawada ACB Court, naming Lokesh as an accused in the case Lokesh has been named as 14th accused in the case.
The Department has already named Naidu as an accused in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case and AP FiberNet case and filed Prisoner Transit (PT) warrant petitions against him in Vijayawada ACB Court.
Naidu has also filed petitions in the High Court for anticipatory bail in both the cases.
In May 2022, the CID had registered an FIR against Chandrababu Naidu, former municipal administration minister Dr P. Narayana, Heritage Foods Ltd, and others, for alleged irregularities in the construction of an internal ring road in Amaravati.
The FIR was filed based on a complaint from YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Mangalgiri MLA A. Rama Krishna Reddy.
It was alleged that certain illegal and corrupt activities were committed by highly placed government officials between 2014 and 2019 with regard to the design of master plan for the Andhra Pradesh capital and alignment of the ring road to cause wrongful gain to certain individuals.
Heritage Foods is a company owned by Chandrababu Naidu’s family. The CID had stated that it is probing Lokesh’s role in all three scams.
The scams allegedly took place when Naidu was the Chief Minister and Lokesh a Cabinet Minister.