N Chandrababu Naidu wields Salve, Singhvi, Luthra before Supreme Court to quash skill development scam FIR

A bevy of senior lawyers represented former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday before the Supreme Court in his plea to quash the first information report (FIR) against him in the skill development scam case [Nara Chandrababu Naidu vs State of Andhra Pradesh and anr]..Senior Advocates Harish Salve, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Sidharth Luthra made submissions in the matter today for Naidu before a bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi..The Supreme Court today declined to issue notice in Naidu's appeal against Andhra Pradesh High Court order dismissing his quashing plea.The top court said that it would have to examine certain material on the next hearing on Monday (October 9) before it decides whether to admit the plea or not."We need to get clarity that if these documents or the letter was produced before the high court or not. We will not issue notice now," the Court said. .Before today's hearing drew to a close, the Supreme Court judges also took note of the number of senior counsel appearing for Naidu. "We will all fade in front of (Mukul) Rohatgi (appearing for the Andhra Pradesh government)," Salve quipped, in reply. "If this was the lower court, we would not have permitted so many counsel. But in Supreme Court, you have this privilege," Justice Trivedi remarked. Naidu's counsel today asserted that Naidu's arrest was politically motivated. It is a purely political act, Salve argued."There are FIR after FIR ... this is a clear case of regime revenge.. 73-year-old man is being interrogated.. another 2 FIRs are also lined up..," Luthra added. .Meanwhile, the sheer number of lawyers appearing for Naidu also appeared to pose difficulties for senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi in making his submissions for the Andhra Pradesh government. "Will they let me speak? It's (their) lawyers one after another. Only one should argue for the petitioner," he said. .The bench was hearing the plea by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu seeking the quashing of the FIR registered against him in connection with the skill development scam The investigation against Naidu centers around a scheme that allegedly diverted government funds intended for a skill development project into various shell companies through fraudulent invoices.Naidu was arrested and later remanded to judicial custody in the matter on September 10..Prima facie case of cheating, forgery, corruption against N Chandrababu Naidu: Special ACB Court.The Andhra Pradesh High Court had, on September 22, dismissed his quashing plea leading to the instant appeal before the apex court.Justice K Sreenivasa Reddy of the High Court had refused to allow Naidu's plea after observing that Naidu's alleged acts could not be said to fall within the discharge of his official duties as a Chief Minister (CM). Therefore, no prior approval was necessary to launch the investigation into Naidu, the High Court said..When the matter reached the Supreme Court in the last week of September. Earlier, Justice SV Bhatti recused from the case. .[Follow our live-coverage of today's hearing]