Vivekananda Reddy murder: CBI arrests brother Bhaskar Reddy

In a major development in the 2019 murder case of former Andhra Pradesh minister Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday arrested his brother Y. S. Bhaskar Reddy.

Bhaskar Reddy is father of Kadapa MP Y. S. Avinash Reddy and uncle of Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI arrested Bhaskar Reddy from his residence at Pulivendula in Kadapa district.

The CBI officials handed over the arrest memo to Bhaskar Reddy`s family and took him into custody.

A large number of Bhaskar Reddy and Avinash Reddy`s supporters had reached their residence.

The CBI was shifting Bhaskar Reddy to Hyderabad where he will be produced before a magistrate by Sunday evening.

Bhaskar Reddy`s arrest came 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.

He was brought to Hyderabad and produced before a CBI court which sent him to judicial custody.

The CBI expedited the pace of 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.

Bhaskar Reddy is the fifth accused to be arrested in the case. He and his son Avinash Reddy were earlier questioned by the CBI.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and uncle of present Andhra Pradesh Chief Ninister Y. S. 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 was 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 Andhra Pradesh High Court while hearing a petition of Vivekananda Reddy`s daughter Suneetha Reddy, who raised suspicion about some relatives.

The Supreme Court 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.

In an affidavit filed in Telangana High Court a few days ago while opposing the bail petition of Sunil Yadav, one of the accused, the CBI had claimed that Avinash Reddy, Bhaskara Reddy and their follower D. Siva Sankar Reddy, hatched a criminal conspiracy to kill Vivekananda Reddy over conflicting political ambitions.

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 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 counter that Vivekananda Reddy was not happy with his brother Bhaskar Reddy and nephew Avinash Reddy as they had sabotaged his chances in MLC election in 2017 in Kadapa.

Avinash and his father wanted Siva Sankar as MLC candidate but when Jagan Mohan Reddy fielded Vivekananda, the trio 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.