“Andhra CID asked irrelevant questions in Inner Ring Road Case investigation”: Nara Lokesh

Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) [India]: After the questioning of the Andhra Pradesh CID on the second day, Telugu Desam Party General Secretary Nara Lokesh said that CID officials asked the same questions that were not related to the Inner Ring Road case.

Earlier in the day, Nara Lokesh arrived at the Special Investigation Team (SIT) office in Tadeaplli for a second-day interrogation in the Inner Ring Road case.

After completing the investigation, Lokesh spoke to the media and revealed that the CID officials asked the same questions unrelated to the IRR case on the second day as well.

He mentioned that he attended the investigation on the second day, despite the Andhra Pradesh High Court instructing him to attend for only one day.

Nara Lokesh asserted that he had nothing to hide, and he attended the second day based on the instructions of the CID officials.

The TDP National General Secretary stated that on the second day, the CID officials asked him 47 questions, but only four of them were related to the IRR case.

Lokesh revealed that the officials presented IT returns documents of his mother, Nara Bhuvaneswari, and raised some questions from them.

However, he expressed his readiness to challenge these questions in court and didn’t want to answer them during the investigation.

Nara Lokesh emphasized that “He was repeatedly asked questions unrelated to the ministry (which he had managed during the TDP regime).”

He strongly stated that neither he nor his family had any involvement in the alleged Inner Ring Road scam.

Regarding the transparency of his family, Lokesh mentioned that his family has been declaring their assets for the past ten years.

He questioned why CID officials haven’t investigated Prem Chandra Reddy and Ajay Kallam, the individuals who signed the Skill Development Project.

He also raised questions about how it could be considered a quid pro quo arrangement when they paid rent for his family’s stay in the Lingamaneni guest house.

Regarding the transparency of Heritage, Nara Lokesh pointed out that Heritage was founded in 1992 when N Chandrababu Naidu was in opposition. It was listed in 1994, and all the relevant documents are available in the public domain.

He further alleged that Jagan is using public funds to pay the salaries of Sakshi employees. He reminded everyone that the Delhi High Court had issued notices to Jagan and his wife, Bharathi, in a case against the Sakshi Group.

Nara Lokesh revealed that no one is willing to invest in the state due to the corrupt governance of Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He also noted that he has many responsibilities as the National General Secretary of the TDP and expressed his frustration at the CID for wasting his time over two days in a baseless case with no evidence.

In May 2022, the CID registered an FIR against Chandrababu Naidu, former municipal administration minister Dr P Narayana, Heritage Foods Ltd, and others, for alleged irregularities in the construction of an Inner Ring Road in Amaravati.