New Delhi, Jan 29: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Andhra Pradesh government’s plea challenging the anticipatory bail granted to TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road (IRR) scam case.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta dismissed the state’s appeal challenging the high court’s January 10 order giving relief to Naidu.
It said if Naidu does not cooperate in the probe, then the state would be at liberty to move an application for cancellation of his bail.
During the brief hearing, senior advocate Ranjit Kumar and advocate Mahfooz A Nazki, appearing for the state, said the high court went into merits of the case and quoted facts wrongly while granting anticipatory bail to Naidu. Justice Khanna, at the outset, asked Kumar whether the matter pertains to the period 2014-19, like the Skill Development Corporation scam case in which the apex court gave a split verdict about the applicability of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, a provision under which prior permission from the competent authority is mandatory for registration of a corruption case against a public servant.
Kumar said the issue of Section 17A “may not” arise in the present matter which relates to grant of anticipatory bail.
Justice Khanna, however, said, “If the provision (section 17A) applies, then you will have to take prior sanction.” The bench asked Kumar to read out the offences under the Indian Penal Code which have been levelled against Naidu in the FIR.
When Kumar said he has been booked for cheating under Section 420 of the IPC and criminal breach of trust, Justice Khanna said it would be “little difficult” for the state to make a case of cheating against the former chief minister.
Kumar claimed Naidu is the “primary architect” of the scam and the ultimate beneficiary of the windfall gains made by parties as a result of his manipulation of the alignment of the IRR. (PTI)
