Needle of suspicion points to family members

Vijayawada: Even as the CBI has taken YSRCP leader Devireddy Siva Sankar Reddy into custody as part of the ongoing investigation into the sensational murder of Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy's uncle former Kadapa MP YS Vivekananda Reddy just before the 2019 polls, fingers are now being pointed at the immediate family members of the deceased.

Sankar Reddy, in his letter to CBI Director recently, had openly said that Mooli Venkata Krishna Reddy, who was acting as PA to Vivekananda Reddy at that time, was in touch with Vivekananda Reddy's daughter Dr Narreddy Sunitha, her husband Narreddy Rajasekhar Reddy and other family members through a mobile phone and informed what was going on at the scene the next day when the murder came to light in Pulivendula.

"Thummalapalli Gangi Reddy alias Yerra Gangi Reddy being the close associate of the deceased and his family took control of the situation. As he arrived, citing the reason a lot of people will come to see the body. We should keep it properly cleaned. He called lnayathulla to shift the body from the bathroom and asked Lakshmamma (cook-cum-maid) to clean blood stains. This he was doing in the presence of 200 plus people and government officials including police. I was standing outside during this hour. Initially, it was presumed by family members of the deceased that he had a heart attack and fell on the commode, received a serious bleeding injury, Shankar said. This is confirmed by Shiva Prakash Reddy as he received the photos through lnayathulla phone WhatsApp," said Sankar Reddy in his letter.

He alleged that a letter purportedly written by Vivekananda Reddy when the incident took place and his mobile phone were handed over to the police only in the evening many hours after the murder came to light. He also alleged that data in Vivekananda Reddy's phone was deleted by his family members before handing it over to the police.

"As and when Dr Sunitha came to know about the letter said to have been written by the deceased and mobile phone, she should have instructed Venkata Krishna Reddy to hand over those incriminating articles to the investigating agency immediately. But, on the other hand, she, her husband N Rajasekhar Reddy and N Sivaprakash Reddy instructed Mooli Venkata Krishna Reddy to retain the same till they arrived at Pulivendula town. Even though Sunitha, her husband Rajasekhar Reddy and Siva Prakash Reddy reached Pulivendula by 1 pm., they did not hand over the letter said to have been written by the deceased to the investigating agency till 3.30 pm and the mobile phone (lot of data deleted) of the deceased till 5.30 pm," said Siva Sankar Reddy. "The conduct of Dr Sunitha, N Rajasekhar Reddy and N Sivaprakash Reddy is unnatural and raises serious doubts about their attitude. There is every possibility to tamper and delete the data on the mobile phone of the deceased. All those things cumulatively indicate that all those persons were hiding something regarding the incident. Those persons are very crucial in this case to bring out the truth," he added.

Siva Sankar Reddy said that the CBI should interrogate another close aide of the deceased lnayathulla as to on whose instructions he photographed the scene of offence and recorded the same through videography and forwarded to the family members of the deceased while they were on the way to Pulivendula, to bring out the real conspirators in the case. "CBI should interrogate Mooli Venkata Krishna Reddy as to on whose directions he prepared a complaint and submitted the same to the police as suspicious death despite knowing the cause of death duly hiding crucial material objects such as a letter of the deceased and his mobile phone," he said.

Siva Sankar Reddy further said, "The intentions of YS Sunitha and N Rajasekhar Reddy from the beginning are to mislead the investigating agency by hiding crucial facts and giving false statements and petitions, only to divert the investigating agency. In such a case, there is no possibility of proper and fair investigation due to which real culprits may escape from the case and innocents would be implicated. In this regard, it is requested to examine N Siva Prakash Reddy and N Rajasekhar Reddy, brothers-in-law of the deceased and YS Sunitha and Y S Sowbhagyamma, daughter and wife of the deceased to elicit the truth and intentions behind hiding the crucial material objects from the investigating agencies and preferring complaint suppressing the crucial facts in the cae duly misleading the police."

He also urged CBI to verify why Sunitha was constantly in touch with CBI during the course of investigation. She used to meet CBI officials thrice every week, he added.