Naidu’s counsel opposes CID petition for his police custody

Vijayawada: The purpose of seeking police custody of former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) is insidious and with an intention to tarnish his image built over 45 years in public life, said senior counsel Siddharth Luthra.Opposing the police custody sought by CID in the alleged skill development scam case, Luthra said the prosecution did not show any material to the court to justify its plea. The CID filed a petition before the special court for ACB cases, a day after Naidu was sent to Rajahmundry central jail on judicial remand.Additional advocate general Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy said the investigation is still at a nascent stage and police custody is required to get crucial information from Naidu on the money that was routed to shell companies. He added that there was no reason for Naidu to oppose police custody except that something would come out. He said Naidu did not cooperate with the investigation agency after his arrest which necessitated police custody. The end use of money parked by Vikas Khanvelkar of Designtech in the shell company was yet to be unravelled and police custody of Naidu is necessary as two key witnesses have left the country and one of them is the personal secretary of Naidu, he said. Refuting the arguments, Siddharth said the CID, while producing Naidu before the court after arresting him, did not ask for police custody. They asked for judicial custody, and it was granted by the court. It was the high court which passed certain orders and the prosecution cannot say that they are being frustrated. Luthra further said that the so-called inquiry was done in 2021 and since then many people were arrested and interrogated. “The CID never called Naidu for questioning and suddenly woke up in 2023 and had him arrested. After seeking judicial remand at the time of producing before the magistrate they changed their mind and are now asking for police custody,” he said.Another senior counsel Siddharth Agarwal, who also argued for Naidu, said the CID ought to have asked for judicial custody at the time of producing Naidu before the magistrate if their investigation was incomplete. Instead, they sought for judicial remand and within 24 hours the investigation officer changed his mind and filed for police custody without placing any new material before the court. This is nothing but playing with the courts and judicial process, he said. Luthra said the CID released videos and photographs of Naidu being questioned by officials to media channels. This was gross abuse of the process of law and infringing the rights of the person. The respect of the court is in question now, he said. Considering the submissions on both sides, ACB court magistrate B Hima Bindu said the orders will be pronounced on Thursday.On the other hand, the court said the bail petition will also be considered on Thursday depending upon the orders in the custody petition. Naidu’s counsels filed an application for preserving call data records of CID officials who arrested Naidu on September 9. The court said the matter will be taken up for hearing on Friday and directed CID to file counters in the meanwhile.