As expected, the Telugu Desam Party-led coalition government in Andhra Pradesh has started dropping the cases one after the other filed against present chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and others by the previous YSR Congress party government, when he was the opposition leader.
On Wednesday, the ACB court in Vijayawada formally closed the much-hyped AP Fibernet case filed during the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy administration against Naidu and 15 others.
The closure comes after the Crime Investigation Department (CID) submitted an affidavit in the court stating that no irregularities occurred in the execution of the project and that the Andhra Pradesh State Fibernet Limited (APSFL) suffered no financial loss.
What is more ironical is that former APSFL managing director M Madhusudhan Reddy, the very official who lodged the initial complaint with the CID, has now told the court that he has no objection to closing the case and concurs with the CID giving clean chit to Naidu.
Madhusudhan Reddy and current MD Geetanjali Sharma submitted written statements to the ACB Court in Vijayawada on Wednesday confirming their full agreement with the CID’s findings.
Both officers appeared before the court and conveyed—both orally and in writing—that the case had no merit and should be closed.
The case originated in 2019, shortly after the YSRCP government assumed office. Acting on media reports published in a pro-government newspaper, the CID initiated an investigation alleging large-scale manipulation in the Fibernet Phase-I project.
On September 11, 2021, then MD Madhusudhan Reddy filed a complaint claiming that undue benefits worth Rs 321 crore were extended to Terrasoft Software Ltd.
Subsequently, on October 11, 2023—two years after the original FIR—the CID added Chandrababu Naidu as an accused.
However, the CID reportedly failed to establish that Rs 321 crore had been diverted to Terrasoft Software out of the Rs 3,840 crore released by the Union government under the BharatNet scheme.
Following the new coalition government’s formation after the 2024 general election, the CID submitted a report confirming the absence of irregularities or financial misappropriation.
The report effectively suggests that the case was politically motivated and that Naidu was wrongfully implicated during the YSRCP regime.
