YS Viveka murder: CBI to question YS Avinash Reddy at 10.30 am on April 19

HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) here on Tuesday said that it would grill the YSRCP MP YS Avinash Reddy on April 19 at 10.30 am in connection with the murder of his uncle and former MP YS Vivekananda Reddy in March 2019.

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

Arguing the case on behalf of the CBI, 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.

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 notice of the court that the CBI must complete the probe by April 30.

When it was brought to its notice that Avinash Reddy must be questioned today, the court asked how he would be questioned when the investigating officer was in court. The CBI said that he would be summoned at 10.30 am on April 19.

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 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 name, Bangalore business rivalry with Gangi Reddy, dispute with another accused Sunil Yadav and political reasons.

While the lawyer of 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.

6-day CBI custody for YS Bhaskar Reddy, Uday Kumar Reddy

Meanwhile, the social court for CBI has granted a six-day CBI custody for Gajja Uday Kumar Reddy, and MP Avinash Redd’s father Y S Bhaskar Reddy.

The CBI arrested Uday Kumar Reddy on April 14 and Bhaskar Reddy on April 16.

The CBI would question them between 9 am and 5 pm from April 19 to 26.

Accordingly, the CBI would take them into custody for questioning every day for six days.

Bhaskar Reddy was arrested after the arrest to Uday Kumar Reddy reportedly spilled the beans in the sensational murder of former Kadapa MP Y S Vivekananda Reddy.