The CBI asked Bhaskar Reddy to appear before it at the guest house at Kadapa district jail after he failed to appear before it on 18 February.
YS Bhaskar Reddy. (Facebook)
The CBI has once again issued a notice to YS Bhaskar Reddy, father of YSRCP MP YS Avinash Reddy, asking him to appear before it on 12 March in connection with the murder of former MP YS Vivekananda Reddy in March 2019.
A few days ago, the CBI grilled Avinash Reddy for over four hours in connection with the murder case.
In the notice, the CBI asked Bhaskar Reddy to appear before it at a guest house in the Kadapa district jail.
The central investigating agency issued notice to him for the first time on 18 February.
Vivekananda Reddy was the uncle of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
When the first notice was issued, Bhaskar Reddy said he could not appear before the CBI because of scheduled programmes.
As the CBI was conducting a detailed probe after the case was transferred to the Telangana High Court, more skeletons are tumbling out of the closet in the sensational case, with investigators strongly suspecting the role of both Anivash Reddy and his father Bhaskar Reddy in it.
According to the CBI, the father and son hatched the plot to murder Vivekananda Reddy, popularly known as Viveka, 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, which is probing the murder of Vivekananda Reddy at his residence in Kadapa in March 2019, found that ₹40 crore “supari” (contract to kill) was offered to the accused to eliminate him
Vivekananda Reddy — brother of late Congress strongman and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy — was found dead with injuries on his body under suspicious circumstances at his Pulivendula residence on 15 March, 2019, days before the general elections.
The CBI said Bhaskar Reddy and Avinash Reddy bore a grudge against Vivekananda after failing to get a ticket for their associate Siva Shankar Reddy in the MLC elections in 2017.
Shiva Shankar Reddy also bore a grudge against Vivekananda Reddy for failing to support him during the sarpanch elections in Kadapa, the central agency said in court.
On 19 October last year, the Supreme Court transferred the investigation out of Andhra Pradesh and to another state — Telangana.
It came after his daughter Dr Suneetha Narreddy filed a petition seeking a direction that the investigation be transferred to any other state and that it be monitored by a retired high court judge.
Arguing on behalf of Suneetha, senior counsel Siddharth Luthra told the apex court that the local MP, YS Avinash Reddy — also a relative of Jagan — was interfering in the process of investigation.
The CBI could not complete the investigation because of the hurdles created by Avinash Reddy by influencing witnesses and local authorities, Luthra added.
“The petitioners being daughter and wife of the deceased have a fundamental right to get justice as
victims and they have a legitimate expectation that the criminal trial is conducted in a fair manner,” said the operating part of the order issued by the apex court bench.
The order further said, “Under the circumstances, we are of the opinion that this is a case to transfer the trial and other investigation on larger conspiracy and destruction of evidence, by a State other than the State of Andhra Pradesh. As the settled position of law, Justice is not only to be done but also seen to have been done…Free and fair trial is a sine qua non of Article 21…”
It added, “If the trial is not free and fair then the judicial system would be at stake affecting the confidence of the public in the system. At the same time looking into the large number of witnesses to be examined during the trial and the no hardship is caused to those witnesses, we are of the opinion that the trial be transferred to CBI Special court in Hyderabad.”
The Andhra Pradesh government had constituted three SITs to investigate the murder. They examined at least 1,300 witnesses and conducted a narco analysis on three suspects.
Since there was no progress in the probe, Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Dr Narreddy Suneetha Reddy approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking directions to hand over the probe to CBI.
The CBI registered a case on 9 July, 2020, on the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s orders and took over the earlier investigation registered at Pulivendula Police Station.
With the case still not making much progress, Suneetha Reddy approached the Supreme Court seeking a transfer of the case to another state. The apex court in October last year transferred the case to the Telangana High Court.
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