HC declines bail to Kadapa MP’s father in Vivekananda Reddy murder case

HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Monday refused to grant bail to Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy’s father YS Bhaskar Reddy and their aide Uday Kumar Reddy in connection with the murder of former Andhra Pradesh minister YS Vivekananda Reddy in March 2019, people familiar with the matter said.

Monday’s verdict was delivered by a single-judge bench of justice K Laxman, which reserved its verdict on the bail petitions on August 24.

The bench said it could not grant bail to the accused as the investigation was at a crucial stage and cited investigators insisting that there was strong evidence against Bhaskar Reddy.

Bhaskar Reddy and Uday Kumar Reddy, who were arrested on April 16 and 14 respectively, are currently in Chanchalguda Jail, filed separate appeals for bail in the high court after the special court for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases rejected their request on June 9.

Bhaskar Reddy’s lawyer T Niranjan Reddy had argued that the CBI arrested them without direct or substantive evidence against them. He also reasoned that they were entitled to bail since the CBI completed its investigation and filed the chargesheet in June.

CBI, however, opposed bail, arguing that the case was at a crucial juncture and granting bail to Bhaskar Reddy at this point might create hurdles in the investigation. The agency also argued that there was enough evidence to prove that Bhaskar Reddy was a co-conspirator in the murder of Vivekananda Reddy and that there was a possibility of Bhaskar Reddy tampering with the evidence and influencing witnesses.

The CBI filed the third charge sheet in the Vivekananda Reddy murder case naming Avinash Reddy, who is the cousin of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, as an accused.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of the former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula on the intervening night of March 14 and 15, 2019, weeks before the general elections in Andhra Pradesh. The case, which was initially probed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police, was handed over to the Central Bureau of India (CBI) in July 2020, following a direction from the high court.