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Andhra Pradesh CID summons Lokesh for questioning on October 4 in Amaravati inner ring road case
The CID also asked Lokesh to produce bank account details of Heritage Foods Ltd, of which he is a non-executive director, and book with the minutes of board meetings related to the land transactions
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) authorities of Andhra Pradesh police on Saturday issued notices to Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh in New Delhi, asking him to appear before the investigating officer on October 4 for questioning in connection with the alleged irregularities in the Amaravati inner ring road construction.
A team of CID officials went to the residence of TDP parliament member Galla Jayadev, where Lokesh has been staying since September 14, and handed the notice to him, stating that he should appear before the investigating authority at 10 am on October 4 at the office of economic offences wing-II of the CID at Tadepalli in Guntur district.
The notice, which was seen by HT, was served under Section 41-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). It said during the investigation into the Amaravati inner ring road case, it was revealed that there were reasonable grounds to question him to ascertain facts and circumstances from him.
The notice asked Lokesh to comply with all the directions, including not tampering with the evidence in the case in any manner, making any threat, inducement or promise to any person connection with the case, appearing before the court as and when required and also cooperating with the investigating authorities.
The CID also asked Lokesh to produce bank account details of Heritage Foods Ltd, of which he is a non-executive director, and book with the minutes of board meetings related to the land transactions and payment details for the transactions, which are required for the purpose of investigation.
“Failure to attend the questioning and comply with the directions can render you liable for arrest under Section 41-A (3) and (4) of Criminal Procedure Code [CrPC],” the notice said.
The TDP general secretary acknowledged the receipt of the notice both on WhatsApp and personally.
According to a senior TDP leader familiar with the development, Lokesh was supposed to restart his padayatra from Razole in Konaseema district from Friday, but dropped the plan, following reports that the CID might arrest him in the Amaravati inner ring road case, in which he has been named as accused no. 14 (A-14).
When his bail petition came up before the high court on Friday, advocate general Sriram Subrahmanyam told the court that the government had no plans to arrest Lokesh immediately, but would serve a notice to him under Section 41-A for questioning. He further said the CID would consider arresting Lokesh only with the permission of the court, if he did not cooperate with it during the questioning.
The high court said since the CID does not want to arrest Lokesh but would only question him after serving notice, there was no need to hear his petition seeking anticipatory bail and hence, it was disposing of the petition. The court asked Lokesh to cooperate with the investigation agency.
A team of the CID officials left for Delhi immediately to serve notices on Lokesh under Section 41-A of the Cr PC. However, the CID officials could not locate the TDP general secretary in Delhi on Friday, but they could track him in the residence of the TDP MP and serve him the notice.
