The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s uncle Y S Bhaskar Reddy, in connection with the murder of former MP Vivekananda Reddy, officials told news agency PTI on Sunday.
The CBI officials handed over the arrest memo to Bhaskar Reddy's family and took him into custody. Meanwhile, a large number of Bhaskar Reddy and Avinash Reddy's supporters had reached their residences.
Bhaskar Reddy was arrested two days after police arrested G. Uday Kumar Reddy, a close follower of Avinash Reddy, the nephew of the deceased who has been questioned by the agency multiple times in recent months, IANS reported.
Vivekananda was found dead at his residence in Pulivendula, just weeks before the state assembly elections, on the night of March 15, 2019. The 68-year-old former state minister and former MP was alone at his house when unidentified persons barged in and killed him. Vivekananda was the father of Kadapa MP Y. S. Avinash Reddy, the brother of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, and uncle of Jagan Reddy.
The case was initially probed by a special investigation team (SIT) of the state criminal investigation department. The CBI took over the investigation in 2020 on the direction of the Andhra Pradesh High Court while hearing a petition from Vivekananda Reddy's daughter Suneetha Reddy, who raised suspicion about some relatives.
The CBI filed a charge sheet in the murder case on October 26, 2021, and followed it up with a supplementary charge sheet on January 31, 2022.
Y S Bhaskar Reddy was brought to Hyderabad and produced before a CBI court which sent him to judicial custody. The Supreme Court had transferred the case to Hyderabad in November last year while observing that doubts raised by Suneetha Reddy about getting a fair trial and investigation in Andhra Pradesh were reasonable.
The CBI expedited the pace of the investigation after the Supreme Court last week constituted a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the agency and directed it to complete the investigation by April 30.
Avinash Reddy and Bhaskar Reddy allegedly had a grouse against Vivekananda Reddy as the latter was opposed to YSRCP fielding Avinash as the party candidate from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency. The former minister wanted Jagan Mohan Reddy to field his sister Y. S. Sharmila or mother Y.S. Vijayamma.
The CBI claimed that Rs 40 crore was offered to the other accused to carry out the murder.
The investigating agency also stated in its response that Vivekananda Reddy was not happy with his brother Bhaskar Reddy and nephew Avinash Reddy as they had sabotaged his chances in the MLC election in 2017 in Kadapa.
Avinash and his father wanted Siva Sankar as the MLC candidate but when Jagan Mohan Reddy fielded Vivekananda, the trio allegedly ensured he was defeated.
Avinash Reddy, who has been questioned by the CBI multiple times in recent months, had denied the allegations and claimed that he and his father were in no way involved.