A confession statement reportedly issued by Dastagiri, the driver of YS Vivekananda Reddy, came to light on Saturday (today) creating a
sensation in political circles.

The statement was recorded by CBI in Proddutur police station in August this year.

In the statement, Dastagiri reportedly confessed that YSRCP MP Avinash Reddy and Erra Gangi Reddy were behind the brutal murder of YS
Vivekananda Reddy, the brother of late (undivided) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in his house just before AP
Assembly polls in March 2019.

The case was transferred to the CBI following an appeal by his wife and daughter to the High Court. YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had
then alleged that the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) played a role in the murder and demanded a CBI probe. After he took over as Chief
Minister in 2019, he faced embarrassment when his cousin and Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter went to the High Court last year.

Vivekananda Reddy, was a former state minister and a former Member of Parliament (MP), who was found murdered at his residence in Kadapa on
March 15, 2019, days before the election. The 68-year-old leader was alone at his house when unidentified persons barged in and killed him.
He was killed hours before he was to launch YSRCP’s election campaign in Kadapa.

In the confession statement Dastagiri said Erra Gangi Reddy others offered him Rs 1 crore to kill YS Viveka.

He also confessed that he along with Erra Gangi Reddy, Sunil Yadav, Gujjula Umashankar killed YS Viveka.

He said Erra Gangi Reddy developed grudge against YS Viveka due to dispute over sharing of money in a land dispute in Bengarluru.

YS Viveka was angry at Gangi Redy and Avinash Reddy accusing them of defeating him in MLC polls.

Viveka entered into verbal duel with Avinash at Avinash’s house also, he confessed.

Dastagiri said they offered him Rs 1 crore and promised that they will also accompany him to kill Viveka.

Erra Gangi Reddy told him that behind murder conspiracy, there were Avinash Reddy, YS Manohar Reddy, YS Bhaskar Reddy and D.Shankar Reddy,
stated Dastagiri in his confession.

The total deal to kill Viveka was Rs 40 crore, he said.

Dastagiri told he was given Rs 1 crore advance of which Rs 25 was taken back by Sunil Yadav later and the remaining Rs 75 lakh was given
to his friend Munna.

Dastagiri said he along with Sunil Yadav and Umashankar Reddy entered into Viveka’s house by jumping the compound wall.

Erra Gangi Reddy who was already present at Viveka’s house opened the door and allowed them inside.

There was heated arguments between Gangi Reddy, Sunil Yadav and Viveka in Viveka’s bedroom.

Sunil Yadav attacked Viveka on his face. Later, he took out the axe that he brought along with him and attacked him.

Viveka died soon after, Dastagiri confesssed.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is investigating the murder of former minister Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, has offered a reward of Rs 5 lakh for information in this regard. A poster released on Saturday, stated that persons providing concrete and credible information, will be rewarded Rs five lakh.

CBI officials stated that confidentiality will be maintained and identity of such people, will be protected. People having information, can contact the officials either by phone, email, or in person, the notice said.

The CBI has been investigating the case for almost a year now, and has questioned several suspects multiple times till now.

Uncle to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Vivekananda Reddy was found murdered at his residence in Kadapa on March 15, 2019, a few days before the election.

The 68-year-old leader 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. Later, the CBI took up the case on the directions of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The shocking incident of brutal murder of former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy just before Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls in March 2019 is taking new twists and turns after CBI started probing the case on a daily basis for the past 50 days.

The case could not make any progress after YS Jaganmohan Reddy became AP CM in May 2019 though YS Viveka is own uncle of Jagan (brother of late CM YSR).

However, after Viveka’s daughter Sunitha approached courts seeking CBI probe into her father’s murder case, the CBI took over investigation following court orders.

At this stage, Viveka’s watchman Rangaiah turned approver and revealed that nine persons including Gangi Reddy, Dastagiri and Sunil Yadav were involved in murder and they gave Rs 9 crore supari to murder Viveka.

Rangaiah complained to CBI that he is receiving life threatening calls for disclosing the names of murderers since two days.

With this, CBI provided tight security to watchman and deployed police force at his house today (Saturday).

The CBI, which resumed its investigation into the murder of former Andhra Pradesh minister Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, the uncle of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, continued its probe for a second consecutive day on Tuesday in the state’s Kadapa.

The Central Bureau of Investigation sleuths on Tuesday questioned Hidayatullah, who worked as computer operator at Vivekananda Reddy’s house. The investigating officials also questioned Vivekananda Reddy’s driver Dastagiri for a second consecutive day.

The CBI officials questioned the duo at the central prison guest house. Dastagiri was grilled for seven hours on Monday.

The driver was also questioned in Delhi by the CBI officials last month. He was again called for interrogation. They are believed to have questioned him on why he stopped working with Vivekananda Reddy six months before the murder. He was also reportedly grilled on his financial dealings and other matters.

With the questioning of the driver and the computer operator, the CBI has resumed investigations which had been put on hold due to the pandemic situation.

Vivekananda Reddy was found murdered at his home in Pulivendula in Kadapa district on March 15, 2019.

The 68-year-old former 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 the YSR Congress Party’s election campaign in Kadapa.

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

It was in July last year that the CBI began its probe into the case. This came four months after the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered a probe by the central agency, following petitions filed by Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Suneetha Reddy, her husband and others.

In April this year, Suneetha Reddy found fault with the delay in the probe by the CBI.

Claiming that it was a political murder, she visited CBI headquarters in Delhi to enquire about the delay in the probe by the central agency.

She reiterated that she has doubts about some of her family members. She said though it has been more than two years since the murder of her father, those involved have not been arrested.

For over nine days, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials have been camping in Kadapa to investigate into the sensational murder of YSR blood brother Vivekananda Reddy in his own residence. Already, the CBI has questioned Viveka personal assistant Krishna Reddy and watchman Ranganna. Watchman’s son Prakash was also questioned in the case. Reports say that the CBI was reconstructing the case point by point and it has considered the circumstantial evidence also.

By all means, the CBI officials are expected to question YCP MP YS Avinash Reddy today or tomorrow. It may be recalled that Avinash Reddy was the MP candidate of YSRCP from Kadapa when the murder took place. Vivekananda Reddy asked for the ticket but CM Jagan has preferred Avinash. There were some differences but the family seemed to have arrived at a patch up at that time. Even Viveka was also about to start a campaign for victory of Avinash Reddy. Whatever, the murder took place when the 2019 election campaign was at its peak stage.

Interestingly, Avinash Reddy was one of the first persons to arrive at the spot of murder. As a result, many questions were asked about the involvement of top persons in the tampering of evidence at the murder scene. Sakshi media first reported this as a death by cardiac arrest while the rest of media changed their version and termed it as a murder as per the police reports.

Political circles were waiting with bated breath as to where the CBI probe would lead to eventually.

The sensational murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy has cast its shadow at the time of AP election campaign all through. The court orders have forced the TDP leaders not to talk about this issue till the end of election process. But there’s something called mouth talk that has done the damage already. The YCP campaign managers did their best to cover up the murder mystery by getting the court orders. Was this enough? Could they erase the recent murder incident from the public memory that easily just by a court order?

There’s no doubt the neutral voters and the educated sections are looking at the Viveka murder as the darkest moment in this election. Quite smartly, CM Chandrababu Naidu followed court orders during campaign but made a passing mention of the murder in his final appeal towards the end of campaigning. Naidu asked the AP voters to see how they are trying to obstruct murder investigation and how they are so wrongfully blaming the TDP. In just a few words, he conveyed the message against Jagan. The two other star campaigners – Pawan Kalyan and KA Paul – have also touched on the murder issue though lightly. Jaganmohan Reddy has become truly isolated on this count also. The murder incident has left greater impact on all sections cutting across political parties in coastal region.

After Kadapa SP Rahul Dev Sarma was transferred, there was speculation that the investigation into YS Vivekananda Reddy murder would be badly affected. But, in a rather surprising move, the Kadapa police showed the arrest of three persons on the charges of tampering evidence at the scene of Viveka murder. The move sent a strong message on how the TDP government is serious to take the case to a logical conclusion.

In the beginning, there were reports that evidence tampering like cleaning blood and shifting the body was done at the instructions of YCP MP candidate YS Avinash Reddy who in turn reportedly received phone instructions from none other than YS Jaganmohan Reddy. In the evidence tampering case, names of Avinash Reddy or Jagan were not mentioned. In the next two days, the main accused in the murder case will have to be named.

As it is the election time, the police are taking all precautions not to give any scope for the politicisation of the murder. The YCP leaders have petitioned the Election Commission of India which in turn transferred the SP. Amid all this, the government and the district police are eager to come out with details of main suspects as early as possible.

The sensational murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy is not as mysterious as it appeared to be. The investigating Special Investigation Team officials are picking up every one connected to Viveka’s financial and political dealings. The entire investigation is now focusing on the multi-crore properties that were under the control of Vivekananda Reddy.

His close associate Gangi Reddy and personal assistant Krishna Reddy are being questioned thoroughly in this aspect. Now it’s a question of who is having financial disputes with Viveka. Who are the insiders who might have played a role in the murder? Without doubt, the murder was carried out by the hired killers. Who might have engaged those killers?

Some suspected hired killers are in police custody. Parameswar Reddy, a close follower of Viveka, was also taken into custody. His comment on the ‘insiders role’ has given new twist to investigation. There are reports that super sensational facts will be known in the next few days. That will have a big impact on the elections and the voters as well. The YCP leaders in Kadapa district are clearly a worried lot about this whole murder episode.

The post mortem on the dead body of YS Vivekananda Reddy was completed. It was found that there were knife injuries at seven places on his body. The post mortem report confirmed that Vivekananda Reddy was murdered. The RIMS doctors completed post mortem in Kadapa and the body has been shifted to Pulivendula for funeral rites. There were knife injuries on both sides of the head and also on chest and hands.

Following the post mortem confirmation, the case created a sensation in political circles in the district. The police began an in-depth investigation into the case. Suspicions were being raised against one Sudhakar Reddy and others belonging to the anti-YS family faction. Sudhakar Reddy was an accused in YSR father Raja Reddy’s murder. The accused persons in Raja Reddy murder served a jail term and they were released recently.

The YS family members reached Pulivendula. The YCP leaders and activists were arriving to pay their last respects to their leader.

YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s brother YS Vivekananda Reddy passed away at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district in early hours of Friday. He suffered a fatal heart attack. He is uncle to YCP President Jaganmohan Reddy.

Vivekananda Reddy used to carry out all the political activities in Kadapa district on behalf of YSR during his actively career. He also won twice from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency and equal number of times from Pulivendula assembly segment. Vivekananda Reddy has served as a minister in the Congress regime.

Vivekananda Reddy has got a difficult time ever since Jaganmohan Reddy entered politics. He had to sacrifice the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat for Jagan. At one time, there was talk he would quit active politics.