Viveka murder case: Scene shifts from Kurnool to Hyderabad as Avinash Reddy admits ailing mother in city hospital

Viswa Bharathi Hospital is run by a doctor who hails from Pulivendula. The doctor’s family is close to Avinash Reddy’s.

A huge group of his supporters saw him off as he left Viswa Bharathi Hospital on Friday. The entire premises of the hospital swarmed with his supporters when he left with his mother.

Related: Why the CBI did not arrest Avinash Reddy in Kurnool

High court hearing

Meanwhile, the Telangana High Court heard the arguments by the counsels of Avinash Reddy and N Sunitha, daughter of former AP minister YS Vivekananda Reddy.

Avinash Reddy is seeking anticipatory bail as he apprehends arrest by the CBI as he is wanted in Vivekananda Reddy’s murder which took place at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district on the intervening night of 14 and 15 March, 2019, ahead of general elections.

After Avinash Reddy skipped presenting himself before the CBI and admitted his mother to Viswa Bharathi Hosptial in Kurnool on 19 May, the CBI officials asked him to appear before them on May 22 but on May 21 itself, he told him he can not present himself before them as he has to attend to his mother.

The CBI officials arrived in Kurnool in the early hours of May 22 with an intent to arrest him but restrained themselves as his supporters were staging protests at the hospital, necessitating seeking help from the local police.

The CBI then decided to wait till 25 May when the High Court would take up Avinash’s petition for anticipatory bail and then move in. But the court adjourned the hearing to 26 May and when arguments could not be concluded, the court adjourned the case to 27 May.

Also read: 2020 statement by YS Vivekananda’s 2nd wife surfaces

Synopsis of the case

Viveka was murdered in his bathroom in his house in the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh in 2019.

Avinash Reddy’s and his father Bhaskar 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) as he played a crucial role in the case, according to the CBI.

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 Sunitha Reddy, who had in the past alleged that Avinash Reddy was hampering the CBI probe.

Sunitha Reddy was also instrumental in having the investigation, which was being probed by a Special Investigation Team set up by the Andhra Pradesh police, transferred to the CBI.

Meanwhile, the CBI, in its counter filed in the high court, opposing anticipatory bail to YSRCP MP Avinash Reddy, mentioned about his mobile phone calls from 6 pm on 14 March to 8 am on 15 March in 2019.