YS Viveka murder: Trouble for YS Avinash Reddy as Supreme Court scraps High Court's interim relief

NEW DELHI: In a major setback to YS Avinash Reddy in the YS Vivekananda murder case, the Supreme Court on Monday set aside the Telangana High Court order granting interim relief to the Kadapa MP. A division bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud also extended the deadline for the completion of the murder case probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) till June 30, 2023.

The Supreme Court delivered its order on a petition filed by YS Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Dr Sunitha Reddy, challenging the Telangana High Court’s interim relief to YS Avinash Reddy on the latter’s anticipatory bail petition. The arguments of all the sides – the petitioner, CBI and respondent YS Avinash Reddy – have been presented before the division bench.

While striking down the Telangana High Court’s grant of interim relief to YS Avinash Reddy, the apex court found fault with the high court’s decision and termed it as ‘untimely’. It observed that the high court should not have passed such an order which, it felt, would in turn also affect the CBI’s investigation into the case.

In a significant development, the Supreme Court division bench also refused to restrain the CBI from arresting YS Avinash Reddy until April 25, 2023. Interestingly, the Supreme Court, during its last hearing on Dr Sunitha’s petition, asked the central probe agency to not arrest YS Avinash Reddy until today, April 24, 2023, for it to take a final call on the petition.

With the latest order, it is assumed that all the legal impediments for the CBI in moving ahead with decisive action against YS Avinash Reddy have been cleared.

The Telangana High Court, on April 18, 2023, granted interim relief to the YSRCP MP from Kadapa after a day-long arguments on his petition for anticipatory bail. While posting the matter to April 25, 2023 for delivering its final order, the high court also asked the CBI not to arrest the Lok Sabha Member until that date. It however allowed the CBI to question the leader at its office everyday till April 25.

Accordingly, the central probe agency grilled YS Avinash Reddy for three days last week at its Hyderabad office. It remains to be seen when the CBI will summon the beleaguered MP again and what will be its likely fallout.