Skill development 'scam': Andhra Pradesh HC directs CID not to arrest Lokesh till Oct 4

Sep 29, 2023

Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], September 29 : The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday directed the state’s CID not to arrest Telugu Desam Party (TDP) General Secretary Nara Lokesh in the skill development and AP FiberNet scams till October 4.
The High Court passed the direction while hearing the anticipatory bail pleas in both cases by Lokesh. The court adjourned the hearing in both bail pleas on October 4.
In the alleged multi-crore skill development scam Lokesh's father and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu is currently in Judicial custody.
Naidu has approached the Supreme Court for the cancellation of the FIR against him in the case alleging that the YSR Congress government in the state had "falsely" implicated in the case in order to derail the opposition in the state. 
Earlier in the day, the High Court dismissed the anticipatory bail petition of Lokesh in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road scam case.
The court has also directed police to serve a notice under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
CID officials have registered an FIR against TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh in the scam.
Nara Lokesh's legal team had filed an anticipatory bail petition in the Andhra High Court prior to the 41A Notice but the court dismissed the bail petition and instructed Nara Lokesh to cooperate with CID officials in the case.
The 41A notice instructs Nara Lokesh to appear before a police officer for further investigation in the case.
The CID alleged in a memo that Lokesh tried to benefit by changing the order of the inner ring road and also played a key role in the scam.
The CID alleges corrupt activities were committed by highly placed officials in the Andhra government between 2014 to 2019 regarding the designing of the master plan of Andhra Pradesh's capital city Amaravati and the alignment of Ring Road and arterial roads. Lokesh was named accused number 14 in the case.