Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader N. Chandrababu Naidu has been sent to Rajamundry central jail due to his involvement in a corruption case. The police have assigned him an upper block in the Sneha Wing of the jail with the prisoner number 7691. Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh and other party members joined him at the central jail. To maintain peace, the East Godavari district police have enforced a law in Rajamundry. Heavy police presence was already in place at Rajamundry Central Jail before Naidu’s arrival. The TDP has called for a state-wide shutdown in protest of their leader’s arrest.
Naidu’s judicial custody will last until September 23, as ordered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Vijayawada, relating to a Skill Development Corporation scandal. The former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over allegations of corruption. The case revolves around the creation of Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in Andhra Pradesh, with a project value of approximately Rs 3300 crore, and officials claim that this corruption has resulted in a substantial loss exceeding Rs 300 crore for the state government.
The CID’s investigation uncovered serious wrongdoings, including the government giving an advance of Rs 371 crores to private entities before any actual spending occurred. This advance represented the full 10 percent government commitment. The CID officials allege that most of this money was redirected to fake companies through false invoices, without any actual delivery or sale of the items listed in these invoices. According to the CID’s remand report, the entire amount spent by private entities on six skill development clusters came from funds advanced exclusively by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the AP Skill Development Center, totaling Rs 371 crores.
