Chandrababu Naidu's PA of many years missing: Andhra CID chief

The Income Tax Department had reportedly raided Naidu's aide's house where they found receipts and transactions which traced back to the former CM, Sanjay said.

Andhra Pradesh CID chief N Sanjay said P Srinivas, a key aide of former CM of the state Chandrababu Naidu has gone missing.

The CID chief was speaking to NDTV about how the scam was linked to Naidu when he brought up the ex-CM's longtime personal assistant.

"Srinivas was examined by the IT department and as you know, Mr Naidu was recently served IT notices for suspected unaccounted income of over ₹ 100 crore. This person has run away. He was linked with another two persons involved in generating fake invoices who were questioned by ED and IT. This shows that the proceeds of crime of ₹ 241 crore clearly points the finger at the end-beneficiary. That is a gap in our investigation", the CID chief said.

The Income tax department had reportedly raided Naidu's aide's house where they found receipts and transactions that traced back to the former CM, Sanjay said.

"The investigations began in 2018 when GST noticed irregularities. When accused people and shell company people tried to avail of GST benefits out of their greed and out of their jostling among each other to benefit from GST. We booked FIR in 2021. The way the money was pushed out of the system was arbitrary and it calls for high-level pressure and involvement at the highest level. High level officers have made notings. We are working along with the ED and IT on this", the CID chief added.

Sanjay continued that they were in the process of issuing a look-out notice for Srinivas, who the CID maintain has key evidence in the case against Naidu.

"Mr Srinivas was served notice to appear before us. But he ran away to the US. Another key witness Manoj also ran away to Middle East, shows the pressure given the high-profile person involved", he said.

The CID chief maintained that he was not acting on the diktat of Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy. The Andhra CID is probing the former CM after concluding that he benefited from the alleged AP Skill Development Scam.