On Friday, October 13th, the Andhra Pradesh government assured the Supreme Court that they would refrain from arresting former chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu in the Fibernet case until October 18th.
They announced plans to request a delay for the proceedings scheduled before the trial court on Monday, October 16th.
This decision came after the Supreme Court postponed the hearing on Naidu’s plea for anticipatory bail to October 17th, along with his request to quash the FIR in the ₹371-crore skill development controversy.
In a noteworthy move, a Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi pointed out a common issue in both matters.They emphasized the need for prior sanction from the Governor under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988, for anticipatory bail and quashing of the FIR in the alleged skill development scam.
“Exercise restraint.Inform the court that you will refrain from making an arrest until then,” urged the Bench to senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Andhra Pradesh.
Chandrababu Naidu has contested the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on October 9th, which denied his plea for anticipatory bail in the Fibernet case.
The assurance remains steadfast: no arrest until October 18th.
As senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, representing Naidu, began his argument on the anticipatory bail plea, Justice Bose emphasized the commonality of Section 17A in both cases.
Consequently, he directed that the anticipatory bail plea would be addressed on the same day.
However, Luthra informed the Bench that the trial court had issued a production warrant.Should Naidu appear before the court on Monday, October 16th, an arrest would ensue.
Initially, senior advocate Rohatgi affirmed that Naidu would not be arrested in the Fibernet case.
To allay Luthra’s concerns, Rohatgi later assured that on October 16th, they would seek an adjournment until Wednesday.
