Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu got further reprieve in the Amaravati assignment lands case being probed by the state crime investigation department (CID), as the state high court extended the stay on the probe for three more weeks.
The high court on Friday directed that the CID should not take any further action against Naidu, including questioning or arrest in the case, for another three weeks. It asked the CID authorities to file a counter affidavit in the case after three weeks.
The high court also issued similar orders for Naidu’s former cabinet colleague and ex-state municipal administration minister P Narayana, against whom the CID registered the case. The court extended stay on the investigation against Narayana as well.
On March 19, the high court ordered the stay on the CID investigation into the case registered against Naidu and Narayana following a complaint lodged by Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy on February 24.
The CID named the former CM as accused no. 1 (A-1) and Narayana as A-2 in the First Information Report registered against on March 12. Both of them were booked under Section 120 B (conspiracy) and Sections 166 (public servant disobeying the law), 167 (public servant framing incorrect document) and 217 (public servant disobeying law with intent to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture) of the Indian Penal Code.
The TDP chief was also booked under SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and Section 7 of the AP assigned land (Prevention of Transfer) Act, 1977.
The CID served notices on Naidu to appear before the designated officer on March 23 and Narayana on March 22 for questioning in the case. The agency threatened to arrest them, if they did not cooperate in the investigation process.
