His petitioned the Supreme Court to direct the Telangana High Court to hear his plea for anticipatory bail, which was posted for 5 June.
Avinash Reddy's anticipatory bail plea hearing is ongoing in the Telangana High Court. (Creative Commons)
After obtaining a breather from the CBI till 19 May for appearing before it, Andhra Pradesh MP YS Avinash Reddy on Wednesday, 17 May, attempted an urgent hearing of his petition in the Supreme Court to direct the Telangana High Court to hear his plea for anticipatory bail.
However, his attempt became unsuccessful.
Avinash Reddy’s counsel made a mention before the Supreme Court for taking up the petition to direct the high court but the apex court asked the counsel to give in writing why he wants an urgent hearing.
The court did not fix any date for hearing his petition.
Avinash Reddy had sought anticipatory bail from the Telangana High Court, but it adjourned the hearing to 5 June on account of summer vacation, without giving him any relief.
The CBI is investigating his role in the murder of his uncle and former AP Minister YS Vivekananda Reddy in 2019.
On Monday, the CBI asked him to appear before it the next day under Section 160 of the CrPC but the Kadapa MP did not turn up.
He sent a message that he would be able to make himself available after four days since he was too busy with engagements which had been scheduled already.
Though the CBI obliged his request and asked him to appear before it on 19 May, Avinash Reddy, apparently apprehending arrest, moved the Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort.
He was asked to appear for interrogation in connection with the murder of his uncle and former Andhra Pradesh minister YS Vivekananda Reddy in 2019.
Vivekananda Reddy was found hacked to death in his home in Kadapa on the morning on March 15, 2019, ahead of the general elections. Viveka was also the paternal uncle of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
In his petition with the high court, Avinash Reddy had argued that he had nothing to do with Vivekananda Reddy’s murder but was framed based on the statement of an accused, Dastagiri, who had turned into an approver.
But the CBI said in its counter that it had other evidence besides Dastagiri’s statement that Avinash Reddy had a role in the murder.
The CBI said that Avinash Reddy, his father Bhaskar Reddy, Devireddy Sivasankar Reddy, Udaya Kumar Reddy, and Yerra Gangi Reddy played key roles in destroying evidence at the residence of Vivekananda Reddy where the latter was done to death, and later tried to paint it as a case of death occurring due to cardiac arrest.
Yerra Gangi Reddy, the prime accused in the case, whose bail was cancelled by the Telangana High Court, surrendered before the CBI on 5 May.
The investigating agency then produced him before the Special Court for CBI cases, which remanded him to judicial custody till 2 June.
Bhaskar Reddy and Avinash Reddy’s names figured in the murder case that created a sensation before the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh in 2019.
Bhaskar Reddy has been charged under Sections 120B (conspiracy), 302 (murder), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for playing a crucial role in the case, according to the CBI. The probe agency believes he had spoken to the accused before and after the murder.
According to the CBI, the father and son hatched the plot to murder Vivekananda Reddy and sheltered the accused.
Their associate Shiva Shankar played a crucial role in erasing evidence, the CBI said in a response filed before the court to oppose the bail of Sunil Yadav, who is an accused in the case.
The CBI also said that a ₹40 crore “supari” (contract to kill) was offered to the accused to eliminate Viveka.
The Supreme Court last November transferred the case from Andhra Pradesh to a Special CBI Court in Hyderabad for investigation and trial into the conspiracy behind the murder case.
The apex court’s decision came on a petition by Viveka’s daughter, Dr Narreddy Suneetha, who had in the past alleged that Avinash Reddy was hampering the CBI probe.
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