YS Vivekananda Reddy murder: Avinash Reddy’s arrest likely as CBI officials reach Kurnool

The CBI officials were holding talks with top officials of Kunrool district reportedly to make the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP surrender.

Kurnool: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to arrest Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy, who skipped appearing before the agency twice for questioning in the murder case of former minister Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy.

With the MP once again expressing his inability to the CBI for an appearance before it on Monday due to his mother, Y.S. Lakshmi’s poor health, the probe agency officials reportedly rushed to Kurnool where he continued to stay put at a hospital.

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The CBI officials were holding talks with top officials of Kunrool district reportedly to make the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP surrender.

Policemen were deployed around the Viswabharathi Hospital, where the MP, a cousin of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, has stayed put for four days.

The police personnel were also trying to stop Avinash Reddy’s supporters who were reaching the area in view of the reports of his likely arrest.

As a precautionary measure, the police did not allow shops to open around the hospital premises.

Tension prevailed near the hospital on Sunday night when supporters of the Kadapa MP allegedly attacked a few media persons and damaged their cameras.

The CBI had issued a fresh notice on May 19, directing him to appear before it at its Hyderabad office on May 22.

The MP had not appeared before the CBI on May 16 and May 19 in Hyderabad.

On May 16, he cited prior-fixed official engagements in Pulivendula as the reason and sought four days’ time, and on May 19, he the MP conveyed to the CBI that he would not be able to appear before it as his mother took ill.

The MP who was in Hyderabad left for his home town Pulivendula in Kadapa district and got his mother admitted to Kurnool hospital. Since then he has been staying at the hospital.

The Supreme Court on May 17 refused to entertain Avinash Reddy’s plea for an urgent hearing on his petition seeking a direction to Telangana High Court to grant him anticipatory bail.

The Kadapa MP, who was already questioned four times by the CBI, had last month approached Telangana High Court for anticipatory bail.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, uncle of Jagan Mohan Reddy, was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula on March 15, 2019, weeks before the elections.

Last month, the CBI arrested Avinash Reddy’s father Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy, a cousin of Rajasekhara Reddy.

The agency told the court during the hearing on multiple occasions that Bhaskar Reddy, Avinash Reddy and their follower Devireddy Shiva Shankar Reddy hatched a conspiracy to murder Vivekananda Reddy as he had opposed the Kadapa Lok Sabha ticket to Avinash Reddy.

Avinash Reddy has denied the allegations against him and his father and alleged that the CBI ignored several key facts in the case.