Cuddapah MP Avinash Reddy appears before CBI in Vivekananda murder case
Hyderabad (IANS) | Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy on Wednesday appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the murder of former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s cousin Avinash Reddy reached the CBI’s regional office in Hyderabad around 10.30 am in response to the notice issued by the CBI.
His lawyer was also with him. This is the fifth time that YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MPs appeared before the CBI.
The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the CBI not to arrest Avinash Reddy till April 25.
The court, in its interim order on the MP’s anticipatory bail plea, directed him to appear before the CBI daily till April 25.
The CBI had called Avinash Reddy for questioning on April 17, but the agency deferred the questioning twice to hear his anticipatory bail plea.
The final order on the anticipatory bail plea will be pronounced on April 25.
From CBI’s Avinash Reddy, his father Y.S. It is likely to be questioned in the presence of Bhaskar Reddy and another accused Udaya Kumar Reddy.
A day after the CBI court sent Bhaskar Reddy and Uday Kumar Reddy to CBI custody, the central agency took their custody from Chanchalguda Central Jail and brought them to the CBI office after a medical examination at Osmania General Hospital.
Bhaskar Reddy was arrested by the CBI on April 16 while his follower Udaya Kumar Reddy was arrested on April 14 from Pulivendula town in Cuddapah district of Andhra Pradesh. Both were brought to Hyderabad where a court sent them to judicial custody.
The CBI had named Avinash Reddy as a co-accused in its plea seeking Bhaskar Reddy’s custody.
The MP’s counsel had argued in the High Court on Tuesday that apart from the statement of Dastagiri, who has turned approver in the case, the CBI has no evidence against Avinash.
Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and uncle of Jagan Mohan Reddy, was murdered at his Pulivendula residence on March 15, 2019.
The 68-year-old former state minister and ex-MP was alone at his house when unknown people barged into his house and killed him.
The CBI took over the probe in the case in 2020 on the direction of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, while hearing a petition by Sunita Reddy, daughter of Vivekananda Reddy, who had raised suspicions on some relatives.
The Supreme Court had transferred the case to Hyderabad in November last year after Sunitha Reddy raised doubts about the fair trial and investigation in Andhra Pradesh.
–IANS
