Andhra Pradesh CID on Saturday finally issued a notice to TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh in New Delhi asking him to appear before its officials at 10 am on 4 October in connection with the Amaravati Inner Ring Road scam case.

Yesterday, the CID informed the AP High Court that it would follow procedure and issue a notice to Lokesh to join the investigation. Its officials had immediately left for Delhi since the TDP leader had been in the national capital after his father was arrested and even cancelled his walkathon.

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Lokesh was served the notice by the CID officials at the residence of TDP MP Galla Jayadev in the presence of another TDP MP and advocate Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar. Apprehending arrest, Lokesh had earlier moved an anticipatory bail petition in three cases – the Skill Development scam, the Inner Ring Road scam, and the Fibrenet scam.

In a partial relief to Nara Lokesh, the high court directed the CID not to arrest him till 4 October in the Skill Development and Fibrenet scam.

Meanwhile, as former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is waiting for the Supreme Court to hear his quash petition on 3 October, the party is worried over the delay in getting the TDP president out of Rajahmundry Central jail where he is currently incarcerated in judicial remand.

It has been more than 20 days since his arrest and they are apprehensive that if it prolongs, it might affect the morale of the party and its supporters. Since there are a number of cases against him, a quash petition would have ensured that all cases were dropped at the same time. However, the strategy backfired due to the inordinate delay in filing bail petitions in the high court, admitted a senior leader of the party.

In the case of Lokesh, who too faces multiple cases of corruption, the party preferred filing of a plea for anticipatory bail. However, additional advocate general P Sudhakar Reddy said, “We will fight against Chandrababu Naidu’s bail tooth and nail since he is quite an influential person.”

The CID claimed that Naidu’s personal assistant Srinivas, who had handled the ill-gotten money from the Skill Development scam, managed to escape to the US before they could interrogate him, pointing to the influence wielded by the former chief minister on witnesses.