Hours after his arrest in connection with an alleged multi-crore skill development ‘scam’, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said he was prepared to “sacrifice” his life to safeguard the interests of Telugu people, and “no force can stop him”.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Naidu said, “For the past 45 years, I have selflessly served Telugu people. I am prepared to sacrifice my life to safeguard the interests of Telugu people. No force on earth can stop me from serving Telugu people, my #AndhraPradesh and my motherland.”
During his arrest, he appealed to people and party cadre to exercise restraint. “Finally, truth and dharma will triumph. Whatever they do to me, I will march forward for the people,” he said.
The former Chief Minister was arrested in an early morning police operation, which involved officers knocking on the door of the caravan in which he was asleep. The leader of the opposition was arrested by the CID around 6 AM from a marriage hall (outside which his caravan was parked) at Gnanapuram in Nandyal town.
Ahead of going to the police custody, the former Chief Minister told news agency ANI that he had not committed any malpractice or corruption.
“CID arrested me without any proper information and I asked them to show the evidence but they refused to show and attached my name to the FIR without my role,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, addressing reporters after Naidu’s arrest, AP CID Chief N Sanjay said on Saturday said that Naidu was arrested in connection with an alleged Rs 550 crore fraud case involving siphoning off funds from Skill Development Corporation.
He said that the investigation implicated Naidu and TDP as beneficiaries of misappropriation of funds. “The principal conspirator behind the entire scheme and who orchestrated the transfer of the public funds from government to private entities via shell companies has taken place with the act of leadership of Shri Nara Chandrababu Naidu,” he said.
He possesses the exclusive knowledge of transactions leading to the issuing of government orders and MoUs from time to time which makes him the central figure of the investigation, he added.