The Andhra Pradesh government headed by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy suspended Personal Secretary of former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu Pendyala Srinivas, for violating government service rules.The orders were issued by Chief Secretary Jawahar Reddy.
Currently, Srinivas holds the position of Assistant Secretary in the Planning Department.
He is also facing charges in the skill development scam case, and his name has been linked to IT notices received by Chandrababu.
The CID has alleged that money was routed to Chandrababu through Srinivas in relation to the skill development case.
The AP Planning Department has issued a memo to Srinivas who is learned to be in America, stating that he must return within a week and provide an explanation for going abroad without permission.
However, as Srinivas did not respond to this directive, the government decided to suspend him.
Pendyala Srinivas had worked as a personal assistant to Naidu when the latter was the chief minister between 2014 and 2019.He has been absconding ever since reports of the Income Tax department serving notices to Naidu came to light.
According to reports, despite being an assistant secretary in the state planning department, Srinivas has flown to America without obtaining the required permission from higher officials, which is against the service rules.
This happened after his name surfaced in the Income Tax department notices to Naidu in July.Srinivas also figured the confession statement of a senior official of Shapoorji Pallonji, the construction company, which took up several projects in Amaravati.
The AP Crime Investigation Department has alleged that Srinivas had played a key role in channelling illegal funds from construction companies to Naidu.The CID also named another person Kilaru Rajesh in the skill development scam case.
But both of them have allegedly left for the US much before the department registered its FIR listing the two.
Incidentally, the IT department had searched the residence of Srinivas in Vijayawada a couple of years ago.But it did not find any cash.
