Hyderabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Sunday arrested Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy, uncle of Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, in connection with its probe into the 2019 murder of his cousin and former MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy.
Bhaskar Reddy, 72, is a former chief of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Pulivendula mandal in Andhra’s Kadapa district, the YSR family’s stronghold, from where he was arrested. His son, Y.S. Avinash Reddy — the YSRCP MP from Kadapa — is also being questioned by the CBI in connection with the murder.
Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, the younger brother of the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy — Jagan’s father and a former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh — had formerly served as Pulivendula MLA, Kadapa MP and state agriculture minister. He was found brutally murdered in the bathroom of his house in Pulivendula in March 2019, just weeks before a state assembly election. The case has been troubling the CM’s family since then.
The CBI has so far named at least four people accused in its chargesheet. The agency last week also arrested Uday Kumar Reddy, a close aide of Avinash Reddy, in connection with the case.
In responses filed in court, the CBI has asserted that there was a “political and power rivalry between the suspects and the deceased which led to the murder”. It further said that a Rs 40-crore supari had been offered to kill Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy.
On Sunday, a CBI team from Delhi led by additional superintendent of police Mukesh Sharma took Bhaskar Reddy into custody from his residence. His wife was also notified about the arrest, says the arrest memo, a copy of which ThePrint has accessed.
Reddy “has been informed about the grounds of his arrest regarding his role in the instant case. He will be produced before (the) special CBI court in Hyderabad,” says the memo, which names him one of the accused in the murder case.
Bhaskar Reddy was reportedly questioned last year too, and the CBI also served him notices to appear for interrogation last month. However, he did not follow up with the agency citing prior commitments.
Terming his father’s arrest “unexpected”, Avinash Reddy Sunday told the media that he was at a loss of words. “Truth must prevail, justice must prevail,” he said.
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‘A conspiracy’
Initially, the Andhra Pradesh Special Investigation team began a probe into the murder and examined over 1,000 witnesses. But nearly a year into the investigation, the state high court expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of progress and entrusted the case to the CBI in March 2020.
In November last year, the Supreme Court transferred the case to a special CBI court in Hyderabad from a court in Kadapa. This came after the deceased’s daughter, Suneetha Nareddy, expressed concerns over “unfair investigation” of the matter in Andhra Pradesh.
Then, last month, the Supreme Court asked the CBI to expedite the investigation process and complete it by the end of April, adding that the agency must find concrete reasons and motives for the murder.
The SC’s observations came after the wife of one of the accused in the case had moved court citing delays in the probe and asking for a change of investigation officer.
Avinash Reddy, who the agency has been questioning for at least five months, had also moved the Telangana High Court last month for anticipatory bail and requested that his examination by the CBI be videographed, to which both the court and CBI agreed.
The CBI, in one of its responses submitted to the Telangana High Court on a separate petition filed by the family of one of the accused, had said that “Avinash Reddy, his father Bhaskar Reddy and their supporters” had “conspired” to kill Vivekananda Reddy over political rivalry.
According to reports, the CBI had also said the deceased had opposed Avinash Reddy getting a Lok Sabha ticket from Kadapa.
Avinash Reddy has argued in court that the CBI did not have any strong evidence to show that he was involved in the murder, except the statements of other accused.
He claimed in his petitions that while “he had informed the police soon after Vivekananda Reddy was found dead, his daughter Suneetha had not done the same” but rather worked towards “hiding the evidence”.
Avinash also said Suneetha had had strained relations with her father since 2011, while alleging that the investigating officer was conducting an “unfair probe” into the case.
Andhra Pradesh government adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy had said in February that Avinash Reddy “had no role in the murder”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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