Telugu Desam Party chief N Chadrababu Naidu was arrested on Saturday in connection with an alleged fraud case involving misappropriation of funds from the Skill Development Corporation, leading to a loss of Rs 300 crore to the state government, Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) Chief N Sanjay said.
Addressing reporters after Naidu's arrest, the police official said the investigation implicated the former AP CM and TDP as beneficiaries of misappropriation of funds.
This case revolves around the establishment of clusters of Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in the state of Andhra Pradesh, with a total estimated project value of Rs 3,300 crores.
The alleged fraud has caused huge loss to the Government of Andhra Pradesh in excess of Rs 300 crores, noted Sanjay, addressing a press conference at the CID office in Mangalagiri.
Reacting to his arrest, Naidu in a post on X (formerly Twitter), said, 'For the past 45 years, I have selflessly served Telugu people. I am prepared to sacrifice my life to safeguard the interests of Telugu people. No force on earth can stop me from serving Telugu people, my #AndhraPradesh and my motherland.'
During his arrest, he appealed to people and party cadre to exercise restraint.
"Finally, truth and dharma will triumph. Whatever they do to me, I will march forward for the people," he said.
Elaborating further, the CID chief said, "The principal conspirator behind the entire scheme and who orchestrated the transfer of public funds from government to private entities via shell companies has taken place with the act of leadership of Nara Chandrababu Naidu."
Naidu possesses the exclusive knowledge of transactions leading to the issuing of government orders and MoUs from time to time which makes him the central figure of the investigation, he said, adding that Naidu's custodial interrogation is required.
The skill development case pertains to the setting up of clusters of centres of excellence (CoE) in the southern state with the total estimate of the project valued at Rs 3,300 crore but ended up causing a loss in excess of Rs 300 crore to the state government.
Incidentally, before the private entities involved in this project could spend any money, the state government released an advance of Rs 371 crore, which is 10 percent of the government's commitment.
The money released by the state government was diverted to shell companies through fake invoices while no delivery or sale of the items mentioned in the invoices took place.
Some of the shell companies were also located in Singapore.
Further, he said that departing from the official procedure, a portion of the funds was used to create CoE clusters while the remaining amount was routed to shell companies.
According to Sanjay, the statement of public officials recorded under section 164 CrPC clearly points to the involvement of former AP CM as the principal decision maker to release the money in advance.
He insisted that further investigation of individuals like Vikas Khanvelkar, managing director of Design Tech Systems is required.
Moreover, the CID chief said that several key documents of this case have gone missing and Naidu and other individuals are suspected to be behind it.
The charges in the case carry penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment while custodial interrogation is deemed necessary to uncover all the aspects of the financial fraud.
The ADGP noted that the Enforcement Directorate and GST authorities have already investigated this case.
The entire offence has occurred with the knowledge of the prime mover, conspirator and final beneficiary of defalcation money. He is the former chief Minister of AP, he said.
Naidu's influence over the witnesses and other accused has come on record, making his arrest compulsory because of his position and it is clearly visible that he is trying to thwart further investigation and possible tampering of evidence, Sanjay added.
Two accused Manoj Vasudev and Pendyala Srinivas have fled to Dubai and the USA respectively. Special teams will be dispatched to those countries to apprehend them.
He also said the role of TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh and his friend Kilaru Rajesh will be seriously probed in the alleged cases of irregularities in AP Fibrenet, Skill Development scam and Amaravati inner ring road.
Naidu was arrested in an early morning police operation in Nandyala, which involved officers knocking on the door of the caravan in which he was sleeping.
The former CM was arrested by the CID around 6 am from a marriage hall (outside which his caravan was parked) at Gnanapuram in Nandyal.
