Former municipal administration minister P Narayana will appear before the CID on the same day as TDP scion Nara Lokesh.
AP ex-minister P Narayana. (Wikimedia)
After TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh, Andhra Pradesh’s former municipal administration minister Ponguru Narayana has been served a notice by the Crime Investigation Department (CID).
The CID has asked him to appear before it on Wednesday, 4 October, at its office near Vijayawada in connection with the Amaravati Inner Ring Road (IRR) alignment case.
Narayana, who is Accused No 2 (A2) in the case, confirmed that he received the notice through WhatsApp, and added that he would appear before the CID and furnish details to the investigating officers (IOs) of the case.
He said he could not comment further on the case as the matter was in court.
Narayana was the second person to receive notice in the case. On Saturday, Lokesh got a similar notice from the CID in New Delhi.
The CID, which is probing the IRR case, had issued a notice to Lokesh and asked him to appear before it in Vijayawada at 10 am on 4 October.
A special team from AP CID left for New Delhi on 29 September and issued the notice under Section 41A CrPC to Lokesh.
The TDP scion, who has been in New Delhi since 14 September, has reportedly been consulting with eminent lawyers and senior politicians after the arrest of his father and TDP national president Nara Chandrababu Naidu on 9 September in the alleged ₹370 crore Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) scam.
Naidu, who is in judicial custody till 5 October, is lodged in Rajahmundry Central Prison.
Lokesh was found at the office of TDP MP Galla Jayadev on Ashoka Road in New Delhi. He informed the CID team through a WhatsApp message that he had received the notice.
A few days ago, the CID had filed a memo in the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Court informing it that Lokesh was Accused No 14 (A14) in the case.
Andhra Pradesh High Court earlier dismissed Lokesh’s anticipatory bail petition in the IRR case. Andhra Pradesh Additional Advocate General (AAG) informed the court that notices under Section 41(A) of CrPC would be served on Lokesh.
The CID has contended that Lokesh played a crucial role making changes to the alignment of the IRR to help industrialist Lingamaneni Ramesh’s family in the capital region. Ramesh is A3 in this case.
The names of former chief minister Naidu and Narayana, along with other private individuals and companies, were also mentioned in the case.
Naidu and Narayana’s names were included in the case as they played a key role in designing the Master Plan and allegedly sought to make changes to the alignment of the Inner Ring Road.
Based on a complaint lodged by the YSRCP MLA A Ramakrishna Reddy, the CID registered the case against them in 2022 for allegedly committing illegal activities within a few months of coming to power in 2014 pertaining to the proposed greenfield capital city Amaravati.
Ramakrishna Reddy alleged that the then ruling party leaders, including Naidu, Narayana, and others, designed the Master Plan for the proposed Andhra Pradesh capital and the alignment of IRR and connecting arterial roads to cause wrongful gain to some selected persons and companies associated with the decision-making authorities, thereby causing loss to public and the government exchequer.
The case was booked under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and also under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act-1988.
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