New Delhi, Oct (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday asked Andhra Pradesh to "stay its hand" in arresting Telugu Desam Party supremo and former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in connection with the alleged FiberNet scam case.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela Trivedi issued notice and sought response of the state government on Naidu’s plea filed against an decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court refusing to grant him anticipatory bail.

The bench listed the matter for further hearing on October 17 and orally asked the investigative agency to not arrest TDP chief in the meantime.

On Monday, a bench of Justice Suresh Reddy of the High Court had dismissed Naidu’s three pleas seeking anticipatory bail in different cases.

In the FiberNet scam, he has been accused of playing a "key role" and pressuring officials to favour a particular company in awarding the FiberNet contract. Naidu remains in judicial custody in the alleged multi-crore skill development scam case in which the CID had arrested him last month. He is currently lodged in the Rajahmundry Central Jail.