The supreme court on Monday set the bail granted to Kadapa MP Y S Avinash Reddy aside in the former minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy murder. The court, which had earlier set April 24 as time to decide on Avinash bail had kept the Telangana high court order aside and directed the CBI to complete the investigation by June end.

The court bench headed by chief justice D Y Chandrachud asked the CBI to speed up the investigation. The court also said that it would not give any directions to the CBI on arresting Avinash Reddy. It found fault with the Telangana high court for granting anticipatory bail to Avinash Reddy.

Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Suneetha Reddy filed the petition challenging the anticipatory bail given to Avinash Reddy by the Telangana high court. The supreme court said granting anticipatory bail to an accused would further delay the investigation. “We can’t give contradicting orders. We want the CBI to complete the investigation as per the new deadline,” the supreme court said.

The court also dismissed the plea to give written questions to Avinash Reddy during interrogation. This is not practical, the court observed.

Avinash Reddy is appearing before the CBI officials for questioning on daily basis. The CBI is also recording the questioning.

The CBI had already arrested Avinash Reddy’s father Bhaskara Reddy in the case. The CBI officials have returned Bhaskara Reddy to the Charlapalli Central Prison on Monday after completing the six days of its custody.

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.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has deferred, to Tuesday, the questioning of Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy in Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy murder case.

When Avinash Reddy reached the CBI regional office in Hyderabad in response to the notice served on him on Sunday, he was informed that the questioning had been postponed to Tuesday.

The CBI has sent a fresh notice to him asking him to appear for questioning at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday.

The central agency is believed to have postponed the questioning on the advice of the Telangana High Court, which was hearing anticipatory bail petition of the MP.

Avinash Reddy was directed to appear before CBI officials at 3 p.m. and he had reached Hyderabad from his native Pulivendula in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.

The MP had also filed a petition in the Telangana High Court for anticipatory bail. The court wanted the CBI to postpone the questioning in view of the hearing.

Meanwhile, Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Suneetha Reddy has also filed an impleadment petition in the High Court. She prayed to the court to hear her arguments before pronouncing its judgment.

The MP fears arrest in the case as his father Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy was arrested in the case on Sunday. In its petition seeking custody of Bhaskar Reddy, the CBI has named Avinash Reddy as co-accused.

Bhaskar Reddy, who was arrested in Pulivendula on Sunday, was brought to Hyderabad and produced before a magistrate, who sent him to judicial custody for 14 days. The CBI has also filed a petition seeking his custody for further questioning.

The agency has alleged that Bhaskar Reddy, along with co-accused D. Siva Shankar Reddy, Gangi Reddy, G. Uday Kumar Reddy and Avinash Reddy, played key roles in causing disappearance of evidence from the scene of murder. For the first time, the CBI has named Avinash Reddy as accused in the case.

Avinash Reddy, cousin of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, has been questioned by the CBI four times during the last couple of months. However, his statements were recorded as a witness.

Following his father’s arrest on Sunday, Avinash Reddy alleged that the CBI ignored some key facts in the case and was treating them as the accused.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of undivided Andhra Pradesh’s former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and uncle of present 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.

Kadapa MP, Y S Avinash Reddy, on Monday filed a fresh petition in the Telangana high court seeking direction to the CBI on video and audio recordings of his questioning.

Avinash Reddy told the high court that the CBI had questioned him in its office in Hyderabad on March 13. The entire process was recorded in both audio and video format, Avinash Reddy said. He wanted the court to direct the CBI to give him copies of the audio and video recording.

In another development, Avinash Reddy’s father Bhaskara Reddy also filed a petition in the court challenging the Kadapa court’s order considering Dastagiri as approver. Earlier, a similar petition was filed by former minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy’s PA Krishna Reddy.

Both Bhaskara Reddy and Krishna Reddy have challenged the Kadapa district court’s order in the case and freeing Dastagiri from the charges as he had turned as approver in the case.

The high court said that it would take up the two petitions together for hearing on Tuesday afternoon. The court also directed the high court registry to give numbers to the petitions and table them for hearing.

Meanwhile, sources say that Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Sunitha is also filing an implead petition challenging Dastagiri being considered as approver. The court is also likely to include her petition and take them up for hearing together.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will once again question Kadapa MP Y. S. Avinash Reddy on Friday as the four-year-old sensational case relating to former Andhra Pradesh minister Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy’s murder is set to enter a crucial phase.

Avinash Reddy, a cousin of Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, will appear before the CBI officials in Hyderabad.

This is the second time he will be appearing before the central agency.

Avinash Reddy’s father Y. S. Bhaskar Reddy was also summoned by the CBI on Thursday but he has sought more time.

Avinash Reddy will be making an appearance two days after the CBI made startling revelations in the case.

While opposing the bail petition of one of the accused Sunil Yadav, the CBI stated in its counter filed in Telangana High Court on Wednesday that Avinash Reddy, his father Y. S. Bhaskar Reddy and their follower D. Siva Sankar Reddy had hatched a criminal conspiracy to kill Vivekananda Reddy over conflicting political ambitions.

The CBI submitted to the court that the trio used other accused Yerra Gangi Reddy, Sunil Yadav, Dastagiri and others who worked for Vivekananda Reddy to execute the murder plot.

Avinash Reddy and Bhaskar Reddy had a grouse against Vivekananda Reddy as the latter was opposed to YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) fielding Avinash as the party candidate from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency. The former minister wanted that Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Y. S. Sharmila or mother Y. S. Vijayamma be fielded.

The CBI claimed that Rs 40 crore was offered to the other accused to carry out the murder.

The investigating agency also stated in its counter that Vivekananda Reddy was not happy with his brother Bhaskar Reddy and nephew Avinash Reddy as they had sabotaged his chances in MLC election in 2017 in Kadapa. Avinash and his father wanted Siva Sankar as MLC candidate but when Jagan Mohan Reddy fielded Vivekananda, the trio ensured he was defeated.

Vivekananda Reddy was younger brother of former chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, father of Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He was found murdered mysteriously at his residence at Pulivendula in Kadapa district on March 15, 2019, a month ahead of 2019 general elections.

The 68-year-old former state minister and former MP was alone at his house when unidentified persons barged in and killed him. He was killed hours before he was to launch YSR Congress Party’s election campaign in Kadapa.

Though three Special Investigation Teams (SITs) conducted the probe, they failed to solve the mystery.

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 Sunitha Reddy, who raised suspicion about some relatives.

The CBI filed a charge sheet in the murder case on October 26, 2021 and followed it up with a supplementary charge sheet on January 31, 2022

In November last year, the Supreme Court transferred to a CBI court in Hyderabad the trial and probe into the larger conspiracy behind the murder. The apex court observed that doubts raised by Sunitha Reddy about getting a fair trial and investigation in Andhra Pradesh were reasonable.

Stepping up the pace of investigation, the CBI on January 28 questioned Avinash Reddy for more than four-and-a-half hours.

On February 3, the CBI questioned Krishna Mohan Reddy, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) for the chief minister.

The central agency also quizzed Naveen, who works in the house of the chief minister. The CBI officials questioned the duo for six-and-a-half hours in Kadapa.

They were reportedly questioned about the sequence of events on the day when Vivekananda Reddy was murdered. They collected information about phone calls made or received by them on the day.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday said that Kadapa MP Y S Avinash Reddy, his father Bhaskara Reddy did not like the politics of former minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy.

The CBI filed a counter in the Telangana High Court on Wednesday opposing the bail petition of Vivekananda Reddy murder accused Sunil Yadav.

The CBI said that both Avinash Reddy and his father Bhaskara Reddy had serious differences with Vivekananda Reddy. The CBI said that Vivekananda Reddy wanted to contest the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat and wanted a ticket from the YSR Congress.

The CBI also said that Vivekananda Reddy had sought the ticket to Y S Vijayamma or Sharmila if the ticket was not given to him. The demands of Vivekananda Reddy angered both Avinash Reddy and Bhaskara Reddy, the CBI said.

The CBI further said that Avinash Reddy and Bhaskara Reddy conspired to eliminate Vivekananda Reddy to clear the way for Avinash Reddy to contest from the Kadapa Parliament seat. So, they have conspired with Sivashankar Reddy to eliminate Vivekananda Reddy, the CBI said in its counter.

The task was assigned to Sunil Yadav, who along with other accused, had killed Vivekananda Reddy, the CBI said in the counter. It also said that Sunil Yadav had visited the house of Avinash Reddy and Bhaskara Reddy on the night when Vivekanada Reddy was murdered.

The CBI strongly opposed granting bail to Sunil Yadav fearing that the accused, if granted bail, would influence the witnesses or change the facts to alter the investigation.