YS Viveka murder: High Court asks CBI not to arrest YSRCP MP Avinash Reddy till April 25

HYDERABAD: Telangana High Court here on Tuesday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) not to arrest YSRCP MP YS Avinash Reddy till April 25 in connection with the murder case of his uncle and former MP YS Vivekananda Reddy in March 2019.

In its interim orders delivered after completing the arguments in the case, the court asked Avinash Reddy to appear before the CBI daily till April 25 and directed the investigating agency to submit the audio and video recording proceedings to the court along with the questionnaire prepared to grill Avinash Reddy. The court had also asked him to cooperate with the investigators.

The court is expected to deliver its order on April 25 based on evidence submitted by the CBI on April 25.

Avinash Reddy was supposed to appear before the CBI at 4 pm on Tuesday but the arguments over his anticipatory bail continued till 4.30 pm in the High Court following which he could not appear before the investigating agency.

Arguing the case on behalf of the CBI in response to an anticipatory bail petition filed by Avinash Reddy, the public prosecutor said Avinash Reddy might influence witnesses if an anticipatory bail was granted to him. “We have collected scientific evidence against Avinash Reddy. Moreover, he is not cooperating during the investigation,” he said.

He informed the court that Avinash Reddy failed to respond properly when he was questioned four times after appearing before investigators. “We also found that Rs.40 crore ‘supari’ was offered to the accused to eliminate Vivekananda Reddy,” he said, stating that Avinash Reddy’s role was also found in disappearing the evidence.

He urged the court not to grant anticipatory bail to Avinash Reddy.

The public prosecutor said the injured portion on the head of Viveknanda Reddy was covered with cotton bandage by Jaya Prakash Reddy, father of recently arrested accused Uday Kumar Reddy to depict the murder as a cardiac arrest.

He brought to the knowledge of the court that the CBI must complete the probe by April 30.

When it was brought to its attention that Avinash Reddy must be questioned on Tuesday, the court asked how he would be questioned when the investigating officer was in the court. The CBI said that he would be summoned at 10.30 am on Wednesday.

The defense lawyer, who presented arguments on behalf of Avinash Reddy, questioned why Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Suneetha did not oppose the bail granted to the accused Shaik Dastagir, who admitted that he killed had Vivekananda Reddy.

The CBI only relied on the second statement given by Dastagir who did not refer to the name of Avinash Reddy in his first statement. “Why was information related to the second marriage of Vivekananda Reddy not mentioned in the charge-sheet?” he asked.

The details related to the properties that were transferred to the name of second wife of Vivekananda Reddy, cancellation of cheque power to Vivekananda Reddy, failure to focus on the role of TDP leaders in the case and missing of a few documents from the spot on the day of incident were not probed, the defence advocate said.

He asked why a letter was hidden as per instructions of Suneetha’s husband Rajashekhar and why clean chit was given to Vivekananda Reddy’s driver. Keeping aside all these aspects, the CBI was implicating Avinash Reddy in the case.

Four reasons that led to the murder of Vivekananda Reddy were explained to the court. The issue pertaining to the second marriage of Vivekananda Reddy and subsequently changing his religion and name, Bangalore business rivalry with Gangi Reddy, dispute with another accused Sunil Yadav and political reasons.

While the lawyer for Suneetha, who also filed an implead petition in the case, was presenting arguments, the defense lawyer asked as to why Suneetha did not oppose the statement given by Dastagir to the media persons.

Meanwhile, the special court for CBI cases here on Tuesday granted six days custody of the CBI of two accused – YS Bhaskar Reddy, father of Avinash Reddy and Uday Kumar Reddy. The court gave these directions while responding to a petition filed by the CBI seeking 10 days custody of Bhaskar Reddy and Uday Kumar Reddy.