SC refuses to stay probe against Naidu

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Andhra Pradesh High Court orders directing the Central Bureau of Investigation and other agencies to conduct a probe into TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu's alleged illegal assets.

TDP MP Nama Nageshwar Rao, industrialist C M Ramesh and media baron Ramoji Rao filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court against the High Court orders. In their petition, they argued that the High Court order was against the principles of natural justice as they were not served notices and their version was not heard. They said the order violates the Article 21 of the Constitution and damages the reputation of people concerned.

However, a three member bench comprising Justice D Bhandari, Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice T D Thakur rejected their petition and refused to stay the probe. But, the bench asked the petitioners to put their arguments before the AP High Court as it was dealing with the matter.  The apex court said that it would direct the High Court to hear their arguments within 15 days.

It was on November 14 that the State High Court ordered a preliminary probe by the CBI and other agencies into the alleged illegal assets of Chandrababu Naidu. The court issued ordered based on a petition filed by Pulivendula MLA YS Vijayamma, the widow of the former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. The agencies were asked to probe the land allotments and sanctioning of various projects to his allies by Chandrababu during his tenure as the Chief Minister and submit a report within three months.