Officers of the AP CID arrived at Naidu's campsite at about 3 am. He was finally taken into custody at around 6 am.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu being arrested from Nandyal on 9 September. (X)
In a police operation in the wee hours of Saturday, 9 September, the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested TDP supremo Nara Chandrababu Naidu from his caravan under the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988.
A large posse of policemen led by senior CID and district police officers arrived at the campsite where the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister was resting in his caravan in Nandyal around 3 am to arrest him in the alleged ₹371 crore skill development scam.
TDP cadres, as well as the Special Protection Group (SPG) men who guard him, are said to have resisted the police. He was finally taken into custody a little before 6 am.
According to reports, the Nandyal range DIG who accompanied the police and the CID team, informed Naidu that he was being arrested in what is called the Andhra Pradesh Skill Development Corporation scam, in which he is Accused No 1. A notice to that effect was handed over to him.
Naidu is now being shifted to Vijayawada.
According to the notice issued under Section 50 (1) (2) of Criminal Procedure Code, the cops reportedly informed Naidu that he was being arrested under Sections 120(8), 166, 167, 418, 420, 465, 468, 471, 409, 201, 109 rw 34 & 37 IPC and other sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Some of these sections involve non-bailable offences. Naidu will have to seek bail in court.
Notice served to Chandrababu Naidu
According to news agency ANI, a scuffle broke out between TDP workers and police personnel and some of them were held.
“We have evidence. We gave it to the high court. The remand report contains all the contents. We will give a remand report before taking him to Vijayawada,” the CID officials could be heard saying during the scuffle, according to ANI.
TDP leaders have heavily criticised the police for its mid-night action against Naidu.
Meanwhile, Naidu’s son, Nara Lokesh, currently on his 4,000-km-plus Yuva Galam — Voice of Youth — padayatra, was prevented by police when he attempted to head for Nandyal. He later resorted to a sit-in protest.
In visuals posted on the X, formerly Twitter, a visibly agitated Nara Lokesh, currently in the West Godavari district, can be seen arguing heatedly with police officers who stopped him from proceeding to Nandyal.
In comments posted on the TDP’s official X handle, the former chief minister is heard asking the party cadres to maintain restraint. He said he had done no wrong and that the CID sleuths, by their mid-night action, had unleashed reign of terror.
He also said there was no prima facie evidence in the case alleged scam to implicate him.
TDP workers had a minor scuffle with police when they came to arrest former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. (X)
On Wednesday, Chandrababu Naidu, at a public meeting in Rayadurgam in Anantapur, had predicted that he would be arrested the same day or “sometime soon”.
“Today or tomorrow they could arrest me. They may even attack me,” Naidu had said, referring to the YSRCP government of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
YSRCP leaders on Thursday had said that Naidu probably made the statement as he realised his arrest was imminent.
Senior leader V Vijayasai Reddy said the TDP chief was trying to whip up public sympathy. Tourism Minister RK Roja, too, said that Naidu would go to jail, adding the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) should also question Naidu.
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