Skill scam: AP Government okays handing over of case to CBI, files counter in Undavalli’s PIL

AMARAVATI: The Andhra Pradesh Government on Thursday filed a counter affidavit in the High Court in connection with the former MP Undavalli Arun Kumar’s Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)or Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into the skill development scam and agreed to hand over the case to the central agencies.

A Division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on October 13 ordered the issuance of notices to 44 respondents including former Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu and TDP State president K Atchennaidu.

However, the petitioner explained to the court that several respondents had refused to receive the notices. The Court while directing the petitioner to complete the process, posted further hearing after two weeks. The Counsel for the AP Government also made it clear that it would prefer that central investigation agencies investigate the skill scam, assigned land scam, and the Fibernet scam. The Government also said that the CBI was free to investigate scams anywhere in the State.

The Government in its counter, explained that the skill scam had many angles and accused the respondents of money laundering. The Government said that the CID began its investigation into the Assigned land scam under the Capital Region Development Authority ( CRDA) way back in 2020 and gave consent for CBI inquiry into these scams and released relevant GOs. Advocate General S Sriram, arguing on behalf of the State Government said that the Government was fully prepared to respond to the PIL of the former MP.

Meanwhile, Senior Advocate KG Krishna Murthy on behalf of the petitioner sought the Court’s permission to send notices through alternative means such as social media and paper advertisement as several notices could not be delivered to the persons in the current address.