Sleuths of Crime Investigation Department of Andhra Pradesh on Friday subjected senior Telugu Desam Party leader and former minister Ponguru Narayana to intense grilling in the inner ring road alignment and Amaravati city master plan case.
Though the state high court granted anticipatory bail to Narayana and insulated him from being arrested, it allowed the CID police to interrogate him after serving him notice under Section 160 of Criminal Procedure Code.
Narayana, however, expressed his inability to attend the interrogation at the CID office at Mangalagiri, as he was sick. His lawyers told the high court that he had undergone a surgery and was taking bed rest at his Hyderabad residence.
The court told the CID authorities that they could go to his residence in Hyderabad and question him there in the case. Against this backdrop, the CID authorities reached his Hyderabad house on Friday.
The CID team grilled Narayana from 11 am to 1 pm and after the lunch break, the questioning started at 2 pm and it will go on till 5 pm. If Narayana refuses to cooperate with the authorities, they might take him into custody as per the rules.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court, too, granted him relief by refusing to cancel his anticipatory bail and asked the state government’s counsel to approach the high court again if Narayana doesn’t cooperate with them.
The CID had filed a case against Narayana, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, and others based on a complaint filed by Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy alleging that land deals had taken place in the name of change in Amaravati inner ring road alignment design.
Narayana, realtor Lingamaneni Ramesh, his brother Lingamaneni Venkata Surya Rajasekhar, Ramakrishna Housing Limited director KVP Anjani Kumar and others were named as accused by the CID in the case.
While granting the anticipatory bail to Narayana and others, the high court asked the petitioners not to leave the country till a charge-sheet is filed and said they have to take the permission of the court, if they want to leave the country. The petitioners were asked to submit two bonds of Rs 50,000 each.
