CBI Makes Another Arrest In Former Andhra Minister Vivekananda Reddy Murder Case

Uday Kumar Reddy is said to be a close follower of Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy, the nephew of former Andhra Pradesh minister YS Vivekananda Reddy.

former Andhra Pradesh minister Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy

Source : File Photo

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday made a key arrest in the murder case of former Andhra Pradesh minister YS Vivekananda Reddy, IANS reported. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI arrested G Uday Kumar Reddy from Pulivendula in Kadapa district.

Uday Kumar Reddy is said to be a close follower of Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy, the nephew of the deceased, who has been questioned by the agency numerous times in recent months.

The CBI team arrested Uday after serving him a notice under Section 41 A of the Criminal Procedure Code. The investigating agency has moved Uday to Hyderabad, where a CBI court has been hearing the case since November of last year.

The development comes a couple of weeks after the Supreme Court constituted a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI and directed it to complete the investigation by April 30.

Uday, said to be an employee of Uranium mine at Tummalapalli in Kadapa district, had filed a private case against CBI SP Ram Singh in Kadapa court last year. On the court's direction, police had booked Ram Singh in February last year.

In his complaint, Uday alleged that the officer coerced him to give false testimony in the murder case. However, Andhra Pradesh High Court later stayed the case against the CBI SP.

On the day Vivekananda Reddy was murdered at his residence, Uday had allegedly gone there along with Avinash Reddy and Shiva Shankar. Uday was allegedly present at the residence of YS Bhaskar Reddy, brother of the deceased and father of Avinash Reddy.

The 68-year-old former state minister and former MP was alone at his house when unidentified persons barged in and killed him. He was killed hours before he was to launch the YSR Congress Party's election campaign in Kadapa.

Though three Special Investigation Teams (SITs) conducted the probe, they failed to solve the case. The CBI took over investigation into the case in 2020 on the direction of the Andhra Pradesh High Court after a plea was filed by Vivekananda Reddy's daughter Sunitha 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. In November last year, the Supreme Court transferred to a CBI court in Hyderabad the trial and probe into the larger conspiracy behind the murder.