AP CID serves notices to Nara Lokesh in IRR case, asks him to attend on October 4

The TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh has been served notices under 41 A Crpc in the inner ring road case. Since he is staying in the house of TDP Lok Sabha MP Galla Jayadev, the CID first took permission from the MP and around 5 pm went to his house.

Lokesh welcomed them, offered coffee and asked them what made them come all the way from Andhra Pradesh. When they said they had come to serve the notices, he said he had already received them on whatsapp so why did they come again. The CID team explained the provisions of the sections mentioned in the notice and asked him to appear before CID at Vijayawada on October 4.

The CID had filed a memo in Vijayawada ACB Court on September 26, naming Lokesh as the 14th accused in the case. The TDP General Secretary had moved Andhra Pradesh High Court for anticipatory bail in the case. During the hearing, the CID informed the court that it will issue notice to Lokesh under Section 41A of Criminal Procedure Code.

Since the arrest is not apprehended in the case, the court disposed of TDP leaders' petition after directing him to cooperate in the investigation. Lokesh is son of TDP supremo and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is already in judicial custody in Skill Development scam. The CID has already named Naidu as an accused in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road case and AP FiberNet case and filed Prisoner Transit (PT) warrant petitions against him in Vijayawada ACB Court.

They also mentioned the list of documents including the pass book of the bank accounts. Lokesh would take legal opinion on the notice before deciding whether to appear before CID on October 4 or later. Under section 41 A Crpc, the person who gets notice has be flexibility to ask for a fresh date citing proper cause for his inability to appear on that particular day.

Lokesh is at present in Delhi monitoring and coordinating with the legal team of Chandrababu Naidu in the Skill Development case. Naidu's case will come up for hearing before a new bench on October 3.