Viveka murder case: CBI makes key arrest

Kadapa (Andhra Pradesh), April 14: Stepping up the investigation into the 2019 murder case of former Andhra Pradesh minister Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday made a key arrest.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI arrested G. Uday Kumar Reddy at Pulivendula in Kadapa district. He is said to be a close follower of Kadapa MP Y. S. Avinash Reddy, the nephew of the deceased, who has been questioned by the agency multiple times in recent months.

The CBI team arrested Uday after issuing him a notice under section 41 A of the Criminal Procedure Code. He was earlier questioned by the CBI in the past.

The investigation agency was shifting Uday to Hyderabad, where a CBI court is hearing the case since November last year following direction of the Supreme Court.

The development has come 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 S.P. Ram Singh in Kadapa Court last year. On the court's direction, police had booked against Ram Singh in February last year following a complaint by Uday 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 when 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 Y. S. Bhaskar Reddy, brother of the deceased and father of Avinash Reddy.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and uncle of present Andhra Pradesh chief minister 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.

Deceased's brother Bhaskar Reddy and the latter's son Avinash Reddy are facing allegations for their involvement in the murder. Avinash, cousin of the chief minister, has denied the allegations.