The Supreme Court has granted bail to Ganti Venkata Satya Bhaskar Prasad, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Siemens, in the skill development corporation scam involving former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) had arrested Bhaskar Prasad, husband of a retired IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Aparna. They filed a case accusing him of inflating the estimated cost of the Skill Development project while serving as one of the directors of Siemens.
In the case, Bhaskar Prasad was identified as A-35 by the CID. Interestingly, he had been previously arrested by the CID, but the trial Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court refused to remand him, stating that section 409 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act did not apply to him.
The ACB court argued that Anti-Corruption Act provisions do not apply to employees of private organizations. As the remaining sections in the case carried less than seven years of punishment, the ACB court directed the CID to follow the provisions of Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
The CID contested the ACB court's decision in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, arguing that the trial court did not consider section 120(B) of IPC, which prescribes the same punishment as the main offense in the case. The High Court sided with the CID's arguments, overturning the trial court's order and denying bail to Bhaskar Prasad.
Subsequently, Bhaskar Prasad approached the Supreme Court, which granted him bail on the grounds that all the accused in this case had already been granted bail and were cooperating with the investigating agencies. He stated that he had not been in custody since the trial court refused to remand him.
On August 22, the apex court granted him interim anticipatory bail, with the condition that he cooperate with the investigation.
In the same case, former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu was arrested and is currently out on interim bail. The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in Naidu’s quash petition and is expected to deliver a verdict this week.
