AP police beef up security in run-up to court judgment on TDP chief

Amaravati: In the run-up to the pronouncement of judgment in the multi-crore corruption case in which TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu is accused, Andhra Pradesh police have taken up strict measures to deal with the fallout of an adverse verdict. Several police personnel were deployed across Vijayawada city, where the ACB Court will pronounce its verdict in the Skill Development Corporation Scam. “The prosecution has submitted the remand report and we are waiting for the judgment. It is a high profile case. He (Naidu) is an ex-CM, so all security arrangements have been made,” Vijayawada South Division ACP Ravi Kiran told PTI. Naidu, who was arrested in the early hours of Saturday, was produced in the ACB Court in Vijayawada on Sunday morning around 6 am.

Following several hours of arguments in the court, the judge is yet to pronounce the verdict even after 10 hours, on whether the CID remand report has been accepted or rejected, and if the former CM would be released. Meanwhile, Kiran noted that the situation is peaceful currently, with no arrest or preventive custody in his subdivision, and said that sufficient forces have been deployed. Vijayawada Central ACP P Bhaskar Rao said no arrests were made but several pickets were set up across the sub-division in places such as NTR Circle, Patamata, Benz Circle, Ramavarapadu, Prasadampadu, Nidamanuru, Machavaram, Gunadala, Nidamanuru, Autonagar and others. GVG Ashok Kumar, Deputy Inspector General of police (DIG), Guntur Range, who oversees law and order in the five districts of Guntur, Bapatla, Palnadu, Prakasam and Nellore said the protest called by TDP opposing Naidu's arrest in the assembly constituencies is over.

He said the police in his range are ready to deal with the outcome of the verdict, especially in case of an adverse judgment and that preventive steps will be taken to maintain law and order. “We are on the roads and conducting patrolling, and identifying trouble mongers. We are watching their activities,” said Kumar. Naidu was arrested in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday at Nandyala for his alleged role in the multi-crore Skill Development Corporation scam. Officers knocked on the door of his caravan in which he was sleeping and picked him up. The former CM was arrested by the CID around 6 am on Saturday from a marriage hall (outside which his caravan was parked) at Gnanapuram in Nandyala