YS Viveka murder: How can CBI name Dastagiri as approver, questions YS Bhaskar Reddy

HYDERABAD: YS Bhaskar Reddy, father of YSRCP Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy and one of the accused in YS Vivekananda Reddy murder case, on Monday filed a writ petition in the Telangana High Court challenging the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) decision to name Dastagiri as an approver in the case. Dastagiri is accused number 4 (A4) in the sensational murder case and, according to the YS Avinash Reddy family, is the main culprit in the offence.

The statement of Dastagiri has become very crucial in the case as the CBI has so far based its questioning of both YS Avinash Reddy and his father YS Bhaskar Reddy on the information provided by him. In his petition in the Telangana High Court on Monday, YS Bhaskar Reddy raised serious objection to the CBI treating Dastagiri as an approver.

“It is not appropriate to implicate us (him and his son) in the case purely based on Dastagiri’s statement. Dastagiri has been giving his statements as instructed by the CBI. Dastagiri indeed played a key role in the murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy and it is not right to grant bail to him. It was him who purchased the weapon that has turned out to be crucial in the case.

“The CBI has been extending undue support to Dastagiri, even at the time of securing bail. The lower court did not take cognisance of the evidence that establishes Dastagiri’s complicity in the crime. The bail granted to Dastagiri should be cancelled immediately,” YS Bhaskar Reddy contended in his petition.

Both YS Avinash Reddy and YS Bhakar Reddy have increasingly been feeling the heat of the CBI probe in the murder case of their relative and former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy. The Telangana High Court has recently dismissed two petitions filed by the Kadapa MP seeking restraint of the CBI from initiating extreme action against him and granting a stay on the CBI probe against them in the case.

In an earlier development, Dr Sunitha, the daughter of the slain Kadapa leader, filed an implead petition in the Telangana High Court in connection with YS Avinash Reddy’s petitions. While Dr Sunitha alleges the role of a family insider in the murder of her father, YS Avinash Reddy and his father YS Bhaskar Reddy accuse the CBI of implicating them in the case in an attempt to shield the real culprits. They point accusing fingers at Rajasekhara Reddy, the son-in-law of late YS Vivekananda Reddy and the husband of Dr Sunitha.