CBI to quiz CM Jagan’s cousin in Vivekananda Reddy murder case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday summoned YSR Congress Party MP from Kadapa district, Y S Avinash Reddy, for questioning in connection with the murder of former Andhra Pradesh minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy.

Reddy, brother of former chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and uncle of present chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula on the night of March 15, 2019, weeks before the state assembly elections.

A special team of officials from the CBI, which visited the MP’s residence at Pulivendula in Kadapa on Monday, served notices on him under Section 41-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), asking him to appear before the investigating officer at 11 am on Tuesday.

Confirming the summons, Avinash Reddy told reporters that he had communicated to the CBI that he won’t be able to appear before the central agency, as he was preoccupied with prior commitments and had sought five days’ time.

“I told them I will fully cooperate with the CBI in the case. I am not able to digest the allegations levelled against me. The people of Kadapa know who I am. As long as I enjoy their support, I don’t have to be afraid of anybody,” he said, after performing special prayers at Gandi Anjaneya Swamy temple at Chakrayapeta mandal in Pulivendula.

The CBI team on Monday also visited the house of Avinash Reddy’s father Y S Bhaskar Reddy, also a suspect in the Vivekananda Reddy murder case, and also the YSRCP office in Pulivendula, but could not find him.

The case was initially investigated by a special investigation team (SIT) of the state crime investigation department, but was handed over to the CBI in July 2020, on the direction from state high court based on a petition from the deceased’s wife Sowbhagyamma, daughter N Sunitha and others.

The CBI, which filed its charge-sheet on October 26, 2021, had named four people — Yerra Gangi Reddy, Y Sunil Yadav, G Uma Shankar Reddy and Shaik Dastagiri — as the prime accused in the murder of Viveka, as the slain MP was popularly known.

Of the four accused, Dastagiri, who had worked as a driver for Viveka in the past, had turned approver four days before the filing of the charge sheet and was granted anticipatory bail by the Pulivendula court.

Based on the confession statement of Dastagiri, the CBI quoted one of the accused Gangi Reddy of claiming that Avinash Reddy, his father Bhaskar Reddy and his associate D Shiv Shankar Reddy were also involved in the murder plan.

With the CBI investigation making little progress, the Supreme Court, based on a petition filed by Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Dr N Sunitha in April 2022, ordered on November 29, 2022, that the case be transferred to a special CBI court in Hyderabad for further trial.