The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Andhra Pradesh state government to approach the high court to cancel the bail of former minister P Narayana, in the allegations of irregularities in the inner ring road alignment for Amaravati.

The court consisting of Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice B Nagarathna, took up the special leave petition filed by the Andhra Pradesh government against the AP high court granting anticipatory bail to former minister Narayana and others.

The advocate appearing for the State government and the APCBCID argued that the high court “had erroneously deemed it as a case with 6 years of delay, while the inner ring road was planned in 2018.”

The advocate also told the bench that the AP “High Court had erroneously noted that there was no material against the accused, though there were specific details of offences committed by each of the accused.”

He further complained that the accused were not responding to the investigating agency after the high court granted them anticipatory bail.

On hearing the arguments, the bench observed that the anticipatory bail would not have any adverse bearing on the ongoing investigation into the case. The court also directed the CBCID that the “Investigation agency may approach the High Court if the accused are not cooperating with the investigation and seek for cancellation of the anticipatory bail.”

The CBCID alleged that the alignment of the inner ring road for Amaravati was changed exclusively to benefit some people. The CBCID also sought permission from the court to question the accused, including former minister Narayana, as part of the investigation.

The CBCID had booked cases against Lingamaneni Ramesh, Lingamaneni Rajasekhar and K P V Anjani Kumar in the design of the master plan for the inner ring road for Amaravati, capital city, in 2018.