YS Viveka murder: High Court asks CBI to summon MP YS Avinash Reddy at 4 pm on April 18

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court here on Monday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to call YSRCP MP YS Avinash Reddy to its office in Koti at 4 pm on April 18 in connection with the murder case of his uncle and former MP YS Vivekananda Reddy in March 2019.

Avinash Reddy was supposed to appear before the CBI on Monday at 3 pm but he moved a lunch motion petition in the High Court seeking anticipatory bail. He said he would not appear before the CBI till the court issued directions in the lunch motion petition filed by him seeking anticipatory bail.

Responding to the petition, the court sought to know as to why the CBI did not arrest Avinash when he appeared before it four times. When the court asked the investigating agency whether it would arrest Avinash Reddy, the CBI advocate replied that if necessary, he would be arrested.

In his arguments, the advocate said a scene was created to depict the murder of Vivekananda Reddy as a cardiac arrest. After arguments, the court directed the CBI to call him for questioning on April 18 at 4 pm and posted the matter for Wednesday saying that it would pass orders in the case by Wednesday afternoon.

Before the court orders, the CBI issued a separate notice to Avinash Reddy under Section 160 CrPC asking him to appear before it on April 18 at 10.30 am.

Avinash Reddy said an attempt was being made to implicate him in the case based on Google takeout.

In the anticipatory bail petition filed in the court, Avinash Reddy contended that Google takeout data was absolutely not an accurate technology which could be relied upon, and the data would only show the particular direction of movement and not the person.

He said the investigating agency, after making several allegations of what had happened after the death of Vivekananda Reddy, was trying to level conspiracy allegations against him and others. “There is absolutely no acceptable legal evidence on record or any other incriminating material to connect me with the alleged offence,” he said.

The CBI was attempting to falsely implicate him in the crime and there had been multiple instances over these four years since the crime to support such a conclusion. The CBI’s previous investigating officer (IO) had been threatening witnesses on multiple occasions with fear of incarceration and worse to ensure that Avinash Reddy was framed through the statements of such witnesses.

The witnesses had been threatened with incarceration by the IO to speak a version that suited him and to implicate Avinash Reddy and other innocent individuals. Three individuals - Kalluru Gangadhar Reddy, Mule Venkata Krishna Reddy and Gajjala Uday Kumar Reddy had come out and filed private complaints and represented to Avinash Reddy detailing how the previous IO had pressurised and beat them up to implicate him and other innocent individuals in their statements.

The arrested accused Shaik Dastagiri became approver after the CBI summoned him to Delhi and the CBI, which later considered his statement only, he said, making it clear that there was no evidence against him with the CBI.

“An attempt is being made to implicate us in the case,

though we are not related to it. We have faith in the court and we strongly believe that truth will prevail,” he said. He alleged the CBI was resorting to a person-targeted probe instead of relying on the facts submitted by him and added that the truth would prevail and they would prove their innocence.

Avinash Reddy appeared before the CBI four times earlier and grilled him for hours to secure information related to the case. The CBI revealed that there was a larger conspiracy in the murder of Vivekananda Reddy and evidence was also destroyed at the scene of the offence.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy called for a crucial meeting with the TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy, Advisor to the Government Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy to discuss the outcome after Avinash Reddy’s appearance before the CBI.

The Chief Minister cancelled his official tour to Anantapur district and other meetings scheduled on Monday.

Bhaskar Reddy, who was arrested by the CBI in Kadapa on Sunday, is presently in 14 days judicial remand in Chanchalguda prison. On its part, the CBI filed a petition in the special court for CBI cases here seeking 10-day custody of Bhaskar Reddy.

The MP contended that Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter was getting to know of information on every move happening in the courts. He urged the court to consider his plea that the extra-marital affair of Vivekananda Reddy and its link with his murder. He alleged that the CBI was not questioning Dr Sunitha Reddy and her husband w as part of the investigation of the case.