CBI grills YSRCP MP over ex-minister murder case

Hyderabad: YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha member from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh Y S Avinash Reddy on Wednesday appeared before CBI officials here in connection with the murder of former state Minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy in 2019.

This is the fifth time this year that Avinash Reddy (who is related to Vivekananda Reddy) is appearing before the central agency, which is probing Vivekananda Reddy’s murder case. In an interim order on the anticipatory bail plea of Avinash Reddy, the Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the CBI not to arrest Avinash Reddy till April 25 and also directed him to appear before the central agency everyday for examination in the case till that date.

The court directed the CBI to give a questionnaire and said the examination of the petitioner (Avinash Reddy) shall be audio-video recorded. The court posted the matter to April 25 and the final order on the anticipatory bail petition will be delivered on that day.

Avinash Reddy’s father Y S Bhaskar Reddy, an uncle of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, was arrested by the CBI on April 16 in connection with the murder of Vivekananda Reddy.

The CBI, which is investigating the murder case had issued notice to Avinash Reddy, asking him to appear before it here on April 17 for questioning relating to the case. Ahead of appearing before CBI, the MP had moved the High Court with anticipatory bail petition.

Vivekananda Reddy, one of the brothers of the late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was found murdered at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district, on the night of March 15, 2019, weeks before the Assembly elections in the State. The case was initially probed by a special investigation team (SIT) of the state crime investigation department, but was handed over to the CBI in July 2020. The CBI filed a charge sheet in the murder case on October 26, 2021 and followed it up with a supplementary charge sheet on January 31, 2022.