Hyderabad: A month before Andhra Pradesh went to election in 2019, when Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was gearing to take over the chief minister’s seat, a brutal murder rocked the influential YS family. Four years on, Jagan’s uncle Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy and his son Y.S. Avinash Reddy are under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the crime.
Last week, the CBI arrested Bhaskar Reddy from Pulivendula town and named him an accused in the murder of former Congress MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy.
Vivekananda was found dead under suspicious circumstances at his residence in Pulivendula on 15 March, 2019. His body bore multiple injuries. Blood was found spilled all over the floor and walls.
What makes the case gripping is Vivekananda — the younger brother of Jagan’s father and late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara (YSR) Reddy — was cousin of Bhaskar Reddy and uncle to Avinash, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP from Kadapa.
In response to petitions filed by one of the accused, the CBI submitted to the Telangana High Court in February that the father-son duo of Bhaskar and Avinash Reddy along with one of their main accomplices, Siva Shankar Reddy (YSRCP leader and also named as an accused), conspired the murder owing to political rivalry with Vivekananda.
The CBI affidavit has named at least five accused, of which three are under its custody. While the fourth is out on bail, the fifth accused — Vivekananda ’s former driver — turned an approver in the case. Last week, the CBI arrested Avinash Reddy’s another close aide, Uday Kumar Reddy.
A Rs 40 crore supari deal was struck for the murder for which the approver conceded of being paid an initial sum of Rs 1 crore via a mediator (also an accused) on behalf of Avinash and Bhaskar as an advance for executing the crime, the CBI noted.
In March, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to complete the investigation in the case by 30 April.
Avinash had moved an anticipatory bail petition, first in March, in the Telangana High Court, which Tuesday refrained the CBI from arresting him till 25 April but allowed his questioning after Reddy moved the court again with a similar petition. Subsequently, the Kadapa MP was grilled for more than six hours hours over the past three days.
In its latest submission to court Tuesday, the CBI asserted that Avinash played a role in Vivekananda’s murder and that it has gathered ‘circumstantial’ evidence regarding the same. ThePrint has a copy of the affidavit.
It further alleged that Avinash was aware of the murder, and that he had tried to destroy evidence at the crime scene.
The Kadapa MP, meanwhile, has the backing of the Andhra Pradesh government. In February, government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy told a press briefing that Avinash had no role in the murder and blamed Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu for influencing the probe officials.
“It may not have become an issue last time because the death happened just before elections. But it will definitely have an impact on the elections this time. It is likely to become a poll issue,” a source close to the CM told ThePrint.
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What happened on fateful day
At around 6 am, Vivekananda was found dead by his personal assistant, domestic help and her son. He was lying in a pool of blood with visible wounds on his body. About 2 litre of blood was spilled on the floor, the CBI affidavit said.
Avinash reached Vivekananda’s residence about 30 minutes later. He told a local leader, who came to meet Vivekananda in the morning, that his kin had died of a ‘heart attack’, the CBI said.
He also called the local circle inspector to inform that Vivekananda died due to a heart attack and ‘blood vomiting.’
“During investigation, it was found that Avinash, despite clearly seeing the injuries present on the body, the body lying in the pool of blood, and presence of blood all over the bedroom, did not insist J. Shankaraiah (circle inspector) to reach immediately, (and) rather insisted to send 3-4 constables for making ‘Bandobast’, stating that Vivekananda died due to heart attack and heavy blood vomiting, as if the death had occurred due to natural causes,” the CBI said.
“It indicates that he deliberately intended to conceal the design of murder of Vivekananda. It also indicates that as a part of conspiracy, the fake story of heart attack and blood vomiting was floated in a premeditated manner to give it a colour of natural death,” its affidavit said.
The CBI said that Avinash reached Vivekananda’s residence along with two accused, who are also his close aides. Cotton bandages were arranged immediately by the accused to clean up and hide injuries of the victim, the affidavit said.
It also raised questions on the role of local police, saying “instead of preserving the scene of offence and keeping the body intact, at the insistence of some interested persons, the body was shifted from bathroom to bedroom and it was cleaned and bandaged.”
“…the blood which was pooled in the bedroom and bathroom was curiously cleaned neatly, obviously to efface the important evidence relating to murder. Police did not evince any interest in preserving the crime scene, but tacitly remained as mute spectators,” the CBI noted.
Political rivalry in YS family?
Andhra’s Rayalaseema region is known for violent faction gangs and bloodthirsty rivalries that are subjects of several Telugu movies. Former Andhra Pradesh minister Paritala Ravi, former MP Madduri Subba Reddy, MLAs Seshi Reddy and P. Siva Reddy were assassinated due to such rivalries.
In its affidavit, the CBI alleged Avinash, Bhaskar and Siva Shankar Reddy sabotaged the 2017 MLC election and worked towards Vivekananda’s defeat as Shankar wanted to contest the MLC seat from Pulivendula division, but Jagan instead gave ticket to Vivekananda.
Vivekananda and the father-son duo had differences over Kadapa seat with the former in favour of allotting it to Jagan’s sister Y.S. Sharmila or his mother Y.S. Vijayamma, instead of Avinash, the affidavit added.
Pulivendula town is the YS family bastion, with even Jagan contesting from the constituency for Andhra Pradesh Assembly. But, local equations and power angles are different. Vivekananda had clout in Pulivendula, and so did Bhaskar and Avinash.
Vivekananda Reddy had served as Pulivendula MLA, Kadapa MP and state agriculture minister. He even gave up his Kadapa MP seat, which was once held by his brother YSR, for Jagan. Avinash Reddy has been holding the seat since 2014.
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The case so far
After Jagan took over as CM in 2019, the Andhra Pradesh government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case, but it made no significant progress despite it reportedly examining hundreds of witnesses.
The CBI took over the case in 2020, after Vivekananda’s daughter Nareddy Suneetha filed a petition citing its slow progress and failure to identify the culprits. In 2022, Suneetha moved the SC urging the probe be moved to Hyderabad or Delhi on the grounds that witnesses were being influenced and that Avinash could hamper the probe.
Suneetha also noted a person, questioned by local police, was found dead. The autopsy report indicated involvement of external or internal injuries, she contended.
She also mentioned an incident on how when Siva Shankar was produced in a Pulivendula court in 2021, Avinash reached the court’s premises with a large number of followers and threatened the CBI officers.
Jagan, who filed a petition in the high court seeking transfer of probe to the CBI, withdrew it after he came to power, she noted.
Avinash told the media that he was “out of words” following his father’s arrest, adding that trust must prevail and he would continue his fight to expose the truth.
In an anticipatory bail petition, filed earlier this month, he noted that this was a ‘motivated and targeted’ investigation against him.
“The IO (investigating officer) has been treating me as an accused in the crime in the documents, which he knows are public record and has specifically formed an opinion on my alleged participation in the crime even before the first charge sheet was filed. It is submitted that the only material against me with the IO appears to be the statement of the approver,” his petition said, indicating that the CBI did not have concrete evidence against him.
It also pointed out how Vivekananda’s son-in-law informed his personal assistant to hide a handwritten letter and a phone for a while. And how, despite knowing about his death first, they did not inform the police but it was Avinash who alerted the cops.
The CBI has taken cognisance of the letter, which forensic experts said matches Vivekananda’s handwriting but added it could be written out of force blaming the driver for his death.
Avinash, meanwhile, also pointed to Suneetha’s strained relations with her father and how there were issues of inheritance of property after Vivekananda’s second marriage in 2010 and the birth of a child in 2015.
The CBI had also mentioned how it traced location of one of the accused at Avinash’s residence using ‘Google Takeout,’ a day before the crime. The MP had objected, saying the accuracy of the data has to be verified.
Meanwhile, Vivekananda Reddy’s second wife Shameem recorded her statement with the CBI Friday, in which she addressed the friction with Vivekananda’s daughter Suneetha and how the family never accepted their marriage. She also alleged that she was threatened by the brother of Vivekananda’s first wife.
(Edited by Tony Rai)