Andhra Pradesh governor S Abdul Nazeer, who had been maintaining a complete low profile and had remained a figurehead during the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government seems to have suddenly become active.
According to reports from Vijayawada, soon after the election trends start pouring in by Tuesday afternoon indicating the return of the Telugu Desam Party led by N Chandrababu Naidu to power, the Governor is learnt to have taken active control of the state administration.
Being a former Supreme Court judge, he was aware how the outgoing government might try to destroy all files pertaining to controversial cases and decisions with the help of the officials closer to the power centre.
Moreover, he had in mind the episode of the former BRS government in Telangana tampering with all the evidences pertaining to telephone tapping by the special intelligence bureau, soon after the Congress came to power on December 4 last year.
So, the first thing Nazeer had done was to order sealing of the Crime Investigation Department of the Andhra Pradesh police.
He instructed Director General of Police Harish Gupta to take control over the CID office, particularly the Special Investigation Team (SIT) office, which had targeted TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and his party leaders.
A senior official of the Andhra Pradesh Special Police (APSP), followed by his team, made an unannounced visit to the CID headquarters at Tadepalli.
He ordered the CID staff to evacuate the building immediately with a strict injunction against removing any items from the premises.
The CID officials, seeking an explanation for the abrupt order, were reportedly informed by the commandant that his actions were in compliance with instructions from the DGP.
This led to the entire CID workforce, including officers, vacating the office. The office, which houses close to 90 personnel, was promptly locked.
All the files pertaining to the arrest of Naidu in September 2023, in connection with Rs 371-crore skill development case were seized.
Senior IPS officer and SIT chief Kolli Raghurami Reddy was stripped of his post and was asked to report in the DGP office.
He made a futile attempt to meet Naidu at the latter’s Undavalli residence on Thursday, but Naidu refused to see him.
The Governor also gave similar instructions to the top officials to keep a watch on the state secretariat at Velagapudi so that not a single file goes out of the CMO or the important departments, pertaining to important decisions taken by the YSRCP government.
In fact, within hours of the election results started coming in, the officials close to the Jagan government started secretly shifting the files.
However, even before they were taken out of the secretariat, the Governor interfered and gave strict instructions, sources said.
On Wednesday, GAD political secretary Suresh Kumar and senior IAS officers met the Governor and briefed the situation.
He asked them to keep a tab on all the important offices where there is a possibility of leakage of information, sources added.
