The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) grilled Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy for about eight hours in former minister Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy’s murder case on Wednesday.
Avinash Reddy, cousin of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Redddy, left CBI regional office in Hyderabad in the evening. He has been asked to appear again on Thursday.
As per the directions of the Telangana High Court, the MP has to appear daily before the CBI till April 25.
This was the fifth time that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP appeared before the CBI.
The Telangana High Court had on Tuesday directed the CBI not to arrest Avinash Reddy till April 25.
In its interim order on anticipatory bail petition of the MP, the court directed him to appear before the CBI daily till April 25.
The CBI had summoned Avinash Reddy for questioning on April 17 but the agency twice deferred the questioning due to hearing of his anticipatory bail petition.
The final order on the anticipatory bail plea will be delivered on April 25.
Meanwhile, the CBI also questioned Avinash Reddy’s father Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy and another accused Uday Kumar Reddy for five and a half hours.
A day after a CBI court sent Bhaskar Reddy and Uday Kumar Reddy to CBI custody, the central agency took their custody from Chanchalguda Central Jail and after a medical check-up at Osmania General Hospital, brought them to the CBI office.
Bhaskar Reddy was arrested by the CBI on April 16 while his follower Uday Kumar Reddy was arrested on April 14 in Pulivendula town of Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh. Both were brought to Hyderabad where a court sent them to judicial custody.
It was immediately not clear if Avinash Reddy was questioned in the presence of Bhaskar Reddy and Uday Kumar Reddy.
The CBI officials are believed to have questioned them on the reasons for Vivekananda Reddy’s murder. They were reportedly grilled as to why they propagated that he died of cardiac arrest.
Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and uncle of Jagan Mohan Reddy, was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula on 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 after Suneetha Reddy raised doubts about getting a fair trial and investigation in Andhra Pradesh.
