Andhra High Court denies bail to Atchannaidu in ESI Scam case

TDP senior leader and former minister Atchannaidu, who was arrested in the ESI scam has once again been hit with a major blow with Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissing his bail petition. It is learnt that Atchannaidu was charged with fraud during his tenure as a minister. He has already been taken into custody and is being questioned by police. He is currently receiving treatment at a private hospital in Guntur.

Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh High Court single-judge bench, comprising Justice M. Venkata Ramana on Monday reserved the verdict on the TDP MLA K. Atchannaidu's bail petition for July 29 after hearing the arguments.

Meanwhile, Atchannaidu had earlier filed petitions in the ACB court seeking bail but was denied. The state high court also dismissed the bail petitions of A1 Ramesh Kumar, Pitani Satyanarayana's PA Murali and another accused Subba Rao, who were arrested in the ESI scam along with Atchannaidu.

Atchannaidu was arrested on June 13 for allegedly asking Insurance Medical Services director to give contracts to a particular firm of his choice to which directors obliged to minister and allotted the work to the specified firm without inviting tenders violating norms.