Vivekananda Reddy Murder Case: SC Issues Notice on Plea Challenging Anticipatory Bail to YSR Cong MP

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from YSR Congress Party MP Y S Avinash Reddy and the CBI on a plea moved by the daughter of late MP Y S Vivekananda Reddy, challenging a Telangana High Court order that granted him anticipatory bail in the murder case of the former parliamentarian.

A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and M M Sundresh listed the matter for hearing on July 3.

The Telangana High Court granted anticipatory bail to Avinash Reddy on May 31 and directed him not to leave the country without the CBI’s permission till the investigation was complete.

“The petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation and appear before the CBI every Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm till the end of June 2023, and shall regularly appear as and when he is required for investigation,” the high court had said.

The petitioner shall be released on bail in the event of his arrest by the CBI on the execution of a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh with two sureties for a like sum each to the satisfaction of the federal agency, the high court order had said.

Avinash Reddy, a cousin of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, is under the CBI scanner and has been examined by the agency several times this year. Avinash Reddy’s father Y S Bhaskar Reddy was arrested by the CBI on April 16 in connection with the killing of Vivekananda Reddy.

Vivekananda Reddy, one of the brothers of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was found murdered at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district on the night of March 15, 2019, weeks before the Assembly polls in the southern state.

The case was initially probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state Crime Investigation Department (CID) but was handed over to the CBI in July 2020. The CBI filed a charge sheet in the case on October 26, 2021, and followed it up with a supplementary charge sheet on January 31, 2022.