FiberNet scam: SC defers hearing on Chandrababu Naidu’s plea till January 17

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi adjourned the matter for January 17 after a brief hearing on Telugu Desam Party's chief petition in the FibreNet case.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred till January 17, 2024 hearing of a plea filed by former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu seeking anticipatory bail in the FibreNet case.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi adjourned the matter for January 17 after a brief hearing on Telugu Desam Party’s chief petition in the FibreNet case.

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During the brief hearing, senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Andhra Pradesh government, accused Naidu of continuing to make political statements about the cases against him and his incarceration, despite the apex court’s order not to comment on the pending case.

On Kumar’s request, Justice Bose orally asked senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Naidu, to ensure his client doesn’t make any statement in the public domain about the pendency of his plea in the FiberNet scam case as well.

The bench has been adjourning the case as its judgement in Naidu’s another plea seeking direction to quash FIR in the Skill Development scam case, where it had reserved judgement, has not been delivered.

The Andhra Pradesh government had assured the bench that its earlier undertaking that Naidu wouldn’t be arrested till the judgement in another comes will continue.

Earlier, the apex court asked the Andhra Pradesh police not to arrest Naidu in the FibreNet case till it delivered judgement on the plea in the Skill Development scam case.

Andhra Pradesh police had assured the bench that they would not take Naidu into custody in the FibreNet case.

The top court was hearing Naidu’s special leave petition against an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court refusing to grant him anticipatory bail in the FiberNet case.

The bench had reserved its verdict on a plea filed by Naidu seeking the quashing of the FIR registered against him rooted in the Skill Development scam case. He had challenged the High Court judgement rejecting his plea for the quashing of the FIR.

The FiberNet case relates to alleged tender manipulation in allotting a work order under Phase 1 of the Andhra Pradesh FiberNet Project involving Rs 330 crore to a preferred company.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh police has alleged irregularities in the project, right from awarding the tender to completion of the work, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.