The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) grilled YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP YS Avinash Reddy from Kadapa for about eight hours in former Andhra Pradesh minister YS Vivekananda Reddy's murder case on Wednesday. Avinash Reddy, the cousin of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, left the CBI's regional office in Hyderabad on Wednesday evening. This was the fifth time that Kadapa MP appeared before CBI investigating officers.
The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the CBI not to arrest Avinash Reddy until April 25. In its interim order on the anticipatory bail petition of MP, the court directed him to appear before the investigating officers of the CBI daily until April 25.
The court also suggested to the CBI that it record the entire process of interrogating Avinash Reddy. The final order on the anticipatory bail plea will be delivered on April 25.
Meanwhile, the CBI also questioned Avinash Reddy's father Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy and another accused Uday Kumar Reddy for five and a half hours.
A day after a CBI court sent Bhaskar Reddy and Uday Kumar Reddy to CBI custody, the central agency took their custody from Chanchalguda Central Jail and, after a medical check-up at Osmania General Hospital, brought them to the CBI office.
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Bhaskar Reddy was arrested by the CBI on April 16, while his follower Uday Kumar Reddy was arrested on April 14 in Pulivendula town in Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh. Both were brought to Hyderabad, where a court sent them into judicial custody.
It was immediately not clear if Avinash Reddy was questioned in the presence of Bhaskar Reddy and Uday Kumar Reddy.
The CBI officials are believed to have questioned them about the reasons for Vivekananda Reddy's murder. They were reportedly grilled as to why they propagated that he died of cardiac arrest.
Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and uncle of Jagan Mohan Reddy, was found murdered at his residence in Pulivendula of Kadapa district on the night of March 15, 2019, a few days before the elections.
The 68-year-old former state minister and former MP were alone at his house when unidentified persons barged in and killed him.
The CBI took over the investigation into the case in 2020 on the direction of the Andhra Pradesh High Court while hearing a petition from Vivekananda Reddy's daughter, Suneetha Reddy, who raised suspicions about some relatives.
The Supreme Court transferred the case to Hyderabad in November last year, observing that the doubts raised by Suneetha Reddy about getting a fair trial and investigation in Andhra Pradesh were reasonable.