Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu is awaiting three orders to be delivered on Monday by the Supreme Court, the AP High Court and the Vijayawada ACB Court regarding his petitions in separate cases.
While the Supreme Court will take up the special leave petition filed by Naidu in the Skill Development Programme scam case, the Andhra Pradesh High Court will hear his anticipatory bail plea in the Angallu and Inner Ring Road alignment change case, along with the AP Fibre Grid case.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau ACB court in Vijayawada will hear the bail and custody petitions related to the Skill Development case. Arguments on these petitions have been completed.
The Bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M. Trivedi will hear the case in the Apex Court.
Earlier on October 3, the Bench had adjourned the petition filed by the former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister seeking quashing of FIR registered in connection with the skill development scam case.
The top court of the country further issued notice on the petition and directed the State of Andhra Pradesh to produce the entire compilation of documents filed before the High Court.
The hearing, which lasted for around 50 minutes, witnessed the Apex Court mulling over the applicability of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, when the offence was committed prior to the 2018 amendment, which inserted 17A.
The Bench further deliberated on whether 17A was applicable when the FIR mentioned not only the offences under the PC Act, but also the offences under the Indian Penal Code.
The counsels appearing for Naidu argued that 17A was applicable when the inquiry started after the 2018 amendment, even if the offences were prior to it. However, the counsel appearing for the State said the inquiry started before 2018.
The orders were passed on a special leave petition filed by Naidu, challenging the Andhra Pradesh High Court order of August 2023, which refused to quash a first information report (FIR) arraigning the TDP chief as one of the accused in the case.
The crime investigation department of Andhra Pradesh Police had arrested Naidu in connection with this case on September 9 and he has remained in custody since.