Hyderabad: Telangana High Court on Wednesday allowed the anticipatory bail petition filed by Kadapa YSRCP MP YS Avinash Reddy in the ex-Minister Vivekananda Reddy murder case and asked him to cooperate with the CBI in its probe into the case.
Justice M Laxman also asked Avinash not to 'leave the country.' " Don't tamper with evidence and appear before the CBI every Saturday," the judge told the accused MP. Vivekananda, the younger brother of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and uncle to the current CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was found murdered in his Pulivendula residence in Kadapa district on the morning of March 15, 2019.
The murder just a few days ahead of the Assembly polls created a backlash and became a topic of discussion in the state. Earlier the MP filed this bail plea and the issue after some delay, finally landed before Justice M Laxman. In March 2020, at the insistence of Narreddy Suneetha Reddy, the daughter of Viveka, who filed a plea, the Andhra Pradesh High Court handed over the probe to the CBI. Acting on the complaints from CBI that the probe faced inordinate delay by the accused at several stages, the Supreme Court in November 2022 transferred the trial to Telangana.
The CBI in April 2023, arrested YS Bhaskar Reddy, the father of Avinash and sent him to jail. Justice Laman in his Wednesday's order said that there was no evidence or even allegation that Avinash interfered with the probe. The CBI has been charging him with being instrumental in the destruction of evidence. The gravity of this allegation has not yet been brought on record clearly by the probe agency, the judge said while asking the trial court to set him free on bail on furnishing of Rs 5 lakh personal bond.
