Supreme Court Asks Naidu, Andhra Police To Refrain From Making Public Statements On FiberNet Case

The Supreme Court was hearing Chandrababu Naidu's anticipatory bail petition in FiberNet case. The matter has been adjourned for January 17.

TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and the Andhra Pradesh police to refrain from making any public statements on the FiberNet case, news agency PTI reported. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Andhra Pradesh government, said that even after the court’s direction, Naidu has been making public statements in the Skill Development Corporation case. Countering the argument, advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Naidu, said Andhra Pradesh’s additional advocate general had held press conferences in Delhi and Hyderabad and spoke about the criminal cases involving Naidu.

The Supreme Court bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi asked both Kumar and Luthra to advise their clients against making public statements about the pending cases, PTI reported.

The top court was hearing the TDP chief’s anticipator bail petition. The matter has been adjourned for January 17.

The Andhra Pradesh Police had told the apex court on October 13 that they will not arrest Chandrababu Naidu in the FiberNet case till October 18 as his plea related to the Skill Development Corporation scam was pending in the court.

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On October 20, the Supreme Court had asked the Andhra Pradesh Police to not arrest the 73-year-old TDP chief in connection with the FiberNet case till the verdict in the Skill Development Corporation scam case was delivered.

It is to be noted that the FiberNet case relates to alleged tender manipulation while a work order was being allotted to a favoured company under Phase-1 of the AP FiberNet Project. The financial irregularity involved around Rs 330 crore.

According to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh Police, the irregularities in the project, from awarding the tender to completion of the work, led to a huge loss to the state exchequer, PTI reported.