Hyderabad: N. Sanjay, who was the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Investigation Department chief when N. Chandrababu Naidu was arrested by the agency in 2023 in the skills project scam case, was sent to judicial remand Tuesday by a special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Vijayawada.
Sanjay appeared before the court Tuesday in a funds misuse case when he was the chief of the state disaster response and fire services. The Supreme Court had cancelled his anticipatory bail on 31 July, directing him to surrender within four weeks.
Sanjay, an additional DGP-level officer, is the second top-ranking Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in the state to go behind bars during the present TDP-led government for their alleged misdeeds and abuse of power during the YSRCP tenure.
Earlier this year, P.S.R. Anjaneyulu, the state intelligence chief during the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, was arrested from Hyderabad and remanded in connection with two cases—alleged harassment of actor Kadambari Jethwani and alleged irregularities in the evaluation process of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) Group-I examination.
The 1992-batch officer of the DGP rank is out on an interim bail on health grounds.
In fact, five IPS officers, including Anjaneyulu and Sanjay, were suspended after the Naidu-led NDA government came to power last year. They were all awaiting postings since the regime change.
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Case against N Sanjay
Sanjay, a 1996-batch IPS officer, was suspended in December 2024 on allegations of misappropriation of funds during his tenure as the director general of AP State Disaster Response and Fire Services. The senior officer was also accused of misconduct and irregularities while serving as Additional DGP, AP CID.
Booked in the case of letting undue favours to a company, Sanjay had previously approached the Andhra Pradesh High court which granted him anticipatory bail. However, the apex court cancelled the bail while directing the IPS officer to surrender before the court concerned.
Sanjay was the AP CID chief when then opposition leader Naidu was arrested from Nandyala in September 2023 by the agency in the alleged Rs 371-crore skill development project scam that took place during the TDP’s term during 2014-19.
Sanjay’s conduct during that period had raised eyebrows as just a few days after Naidu’s arrest, he held a press conference in New Delhi, along with then Andhra Pradesh additional advocate general Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy, to counter TDP general secretary and Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh’s accusations of political vendetta.
Nara Lokesh was camping in the national capital to shore up support for his imprisoned father.
P.V. Sunil Kumar (IPS, 1993), who also served as the AP CID chief when Jagan was the chief minister, was suspended in March for allegedly making unauthorised foreign visits in violation of the all India service officers conduct rules. His suspension has been extended now for another six months.
Kanthi Rana Tata (IPS 2004) and Vishal Gunni (IPS 2010) were also suspended in September as part of disciplinary action in connection with their involvement in model-actress Jethwani case.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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