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SC rejects NTR’s widow’s plea for probe into Naidu’s assets
The Supreme Court bench sought to know in what capacity Lakshmi Parvathi was asking for a probe, to which she said she was seeking the probe in the capacity of the wife of the former chief minister
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The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a special leave petition (SLP) filed by YSR Congress party leader and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister late N T Rama Rao’s widow Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi seeking an inquiry into the alleged disproportionate assets of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu.
A division bench of the apex court, comprising justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Bela Trivedi, dismissed Lakshmi Parvathi’s petition saying that she had no locus standi in seeking a probe into other’s assets.
She was challenging an order of the Andhra Pradesh high court of December 2021, which also struck down her petition asking for an investigation into Naidu‘s alleged illegal assets.
The Supreme Court bench sought to know in what capacity Lakshmi Parvathi was asking for a probe, to which she said she was seeking the probe in the capacity of the wife of the former chief minister.
The bench wondered whether being NTR’s widow would give her any additional qualification to ask for a probe.
“Who are you to ask for the details of somebody else’s assets? Where is the need for anybody to know anybody’s assets? The high court has gone into all the issues and struck down your petition, which has no merit,” the bench said.
In 2005, Lakshmi Parvathi filed a similar petition in a special court for Anti-Corruption Bureau cases, alleging that there was a massive difference in the assets acquired by Naidu from 1978 when he had first become an MLA till 2004 when he stepped down as the chief minister of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
She said the petition was based on the facts of assets mentioned by Naidu himself in the election affidavits filed during the elections since 1978. The case, however, did not come up for hearing as Naidu moved the high court and obtained a stay on the proceedings.
After a gap of 14 years, the ACB court resumed hearing, as the stay order automatically got vacated following a direction of the Supreme Court, which said all stay orders in civil and criminal matters are deemed to be vacated after six months of their issuance.
In May 2021, the ACB court, after prolonged hearings, dismissed her petition, saying there was no merit in her arguments. In June that year, she moved the high court, which struck down her petition later in December. In April 2022, she filed the SLP in the Supreme Court.
While Naidu could not be reached for comment, Lakshmi Parvathi said the judgement was not unexpected. “I thought I would use all the opportunities in fighting for justice. I did not get it,” she said.
