For the last two days, former director of Central Bureau of Investigation M Nageshwara Rao has been posting messages on social media on the arrest of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu in the alleged Rs 371 crore skill development corporation scam.
On Saturday, Rao found fault with the Crime Investigation Department for arresting Naidu against rules without the mandatory approval from the Governor as per Section 17 (A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
On Monday, the former CBI director also found fault with the ACB court for sending Naidu to judicial remand on the same grounds. He quoted the judgement of Supreme Court on Rafael deal case to substantiate his argument.
He said the remand report submitted by the CID in the court were full of cock and bull stories, bereft of any evidence of criminal misdemeanour or malfeasance on the part of Naidu.
Who is this gentleman, Nageshwar Rao? Well, there were several reports some time ago about his controversial career path with several complaints of financial irregularities, influencing investigations and scuttling probes against him.
Rao, a 1986-batch IPS officer, was appointed as the interim CBI chief amid a spat between then Director General Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana in 2018.
He was accused of financial irregularities right from his time as the chief of fire service directorate in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.
Some of the complaints against him include scuttling and influencing investigations within the CBI, misappropriation of funds while in office and his wife’s involvement in a shell company.
He, in connivance with another senior official in Delhi, had allegedly closed inquiries against more than 70 Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officers facing corruption charges.
Rao’s wife Sandhya was accused of purchasing a land at Pedapalakaluru village in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, for Rs 20 lakh, which was shown as loan from a firm named Angela Mercantiles Private Limited, Kolkata, which is a shell company.
There was a complaint that Sandhya had invested money to the extent of more than 60 lakhs in Angela Mercantiles and obtained Rs.25 lakhs as loan, which is a clear case of money laundering.
He had also allegedly slowed down the investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam to save his wife’s properties that were under the scanner of West Bengal police.
So, how can anybody take Rao’s comments on their face value?