The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh filed a chargesheet against former Chief Minister and TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu and a few others for alleged misappropriation of funds in the skill development corporation case on April 4 (Thursday).
As per sources, the CID filed the chargesheet at the third Additional Sessions Judge-cum- Special Judge for ACB cases in Vijayawada.
In the chargesheet, the CID said, “The JNTUs of Kakinada and Anantapur, and S.V. University, Tirupati, had evaluated the inventory given to the six Centres of Excellence under the Siemens Project and compared it with the market price. On an average, there was excess charging of about ₹4.5 crore in each Centre of Excellence (amounting to ₹27 crore approximately) and ₹70 lakh in each of the 34 technical Skill Development Institutes (amounting to approximately ₹23.8 crore). This is in addition to the ₹176.27 crore misappropriated by using fake invoices.”
The CID named Mr. Naidu, Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, former Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship & Innovation Department, Ghanta Subba Rao, the then MD & CEO of APSSDC, Dr. K. Lakshminarayana, a retired IAS officer and the then Director of APSSDC, and officials of Siemens, DesignTech, PVSP Skillar and others as accused in the case.
The Supreme Court had refused to quash the FIR in the case. Sources in CID said a copy of the findings of the chargesheet was being submitted to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for action at their end.
Meanwhile, the CID’s SLP in the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Mr. Naidu by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh is listed for hearing on April 16.
The CID placed before the Supreme Court that the family members of the accused were allegedly intimidating the officers by showing a “red book.”
The hearing of the anticipatory bail petition of Mr. Atchannaidu is listed for April 18 in the High Court.
The CID alleged that Mr. Atchannaidu refused to cooperate with the investigation regarding the cash deposits made in the bank accounts of the TDP during the period of the alleged skill development scam.
