Amaravati land case: HC stays probe against Chandrababu Naidu

In a huge respite for the former chief minister, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has on Friday stayed the state police probe against Chandrababu Naidu for four weeks in the Amaravati land scam case.

The Opposition leader was booked by the Crime Investigation Department and was summoned for questioning at the CID Vijayawada office on March 23.

P Narayana, the municipal administration and urban development minister in Naidu's cabinet, and co-accused in the case, also received the relief.

The CID had registered the case against Naidu based on a complaint by a ruling YSRCP MLA alleging that SC, ST-assigned lands in the Amaravati capital region were procured deceitfully by persons close to the then TDP government.

Also read — Amaravati land case: Former CM Chandrababu Naidu challenges CID FIR on him in Andhra High Court

Mangalagiri MLA Alla Rama Krishna Reddy has charged that government orders were modified later, causing “irreparable loss to the weaker sections.”

An FIR was filed on March 12 naming Naidu as the prime accused under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989, AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act 1977 and various IPC sections.

CID's Tuesday summons gave one week's time to Naidu, stating that he is liable for arrest under Section 41 A of CrPC, for failure to attend/comply with the terms of the notice. A similar notice was issued to Narayana asking him to appear before the CID a day before Naidu.

Terming the FIR against him as a case of political vendetta by the Jaganmohan Reddy government, Naidu moved the High Court on Thursday with a quash petition challenging the CID's proceedings.

Hearing the arguments on Friday, the High Court sought the grounds on which the FIR was lodged. Advocates representing the CID reportedly stated that details cannot be disclosed at the initial stage and asked permission for further probe. “As there was no prima facie evidence against Naidu and Narayana, the HC opined that an FIR at this stage is not in accordance with law,” advocate Shravan Kumar told reporters, representing Naidu's side.

TDP leaders stated the High Court's order was a testament “that false, frivolous cases would not stand judicial scrutiny.”

Meanwhile, the CID sleuths, on Friday, questioned Cherukuri Sreedhar who acted as the AP Capital Region Development Authority commissioner during Naidu's term.

In 2015, about 33,000 acres of agricultural land was pooled by the Naidu government from the farmers of 29 villages in Amaravati for the construction of “a world-class mega capital,” in partnership with Singapore.

Soon after becoming the Chief Minister in 2019, Reddy stalled the capital works, alleging that Naidu's family, benamis and other TDP leaders have benefited enormously from surreptitious land deals executed before the December 2014 declaration of Amaravati in Guntur district as AP's new capital region.