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Journalism of Courage
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s uncle Y S Bhaskar Reddy is an accused in the Y S Vivekananda Reddy murder case along with his son and YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) Kadapa MP Y S Avinash Reddy.
The 38-year-old two-time parliamentarian was first elected from Kadapa in 2014. He is the cousin of the CM. Bhaskar Reddy, his father, is the first cousin of Jagan’s father and former CM Y S Rajashekar Reddy. Late last month, Avinash filed an anticipatory bail petition in the Telangana High Court in which he claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was relying on the statement of just one witness to make serious allegations against him. Arguments are still going on in the bail petition.
The murder of Vivekananda Reddy, Rajashekar Reddy’s younger brother and a former MP, in 2019 occurred against the backdrop of intense political rivalry in Kadapa. Vivekananda was found in a pool of blood on March 15, 2019, with stab wounds, at his home in Pulivendula, the family turf of the YSR clan, in Kadapa. An autopsy report revealed he was stabbed seven times.
Bhaskara Reddy was a former Zila Parishad member of Pulivendula and was named as an accused in the murder of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader P Umamaheshwar Reddy who allegedly hacked Raja Reddy to death in May 1998. Bhaskar Reddy was acquitted in 2004 and since then had been playing a key role in Pulivendula politics
As per the CBI, although they belonged to the same family, Vivekananda and Avinash were engaged in a battle for political domination in Pulivendula and Kadapa. Avinash and his father wanted their close aide D Siva Sankar as an MLC candidate from Kadapa in 2017 but they were disappointed when Jagan fielded Vivekananda.
The father and son, according to sources in the party, ensured Vivekananda’s loss in the election and that led to a lot of bad blood. After his loss, Vivekananda started consolidating his position again in the district. In December 2018, months before the 2019 elections, he proposed to Jagan that he should either field his sister Y S Sharmila and or mother Y S Vijayalakshmi from the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat.
This, according to the CBI, led Bhaskar and Avinash to hatch a conspiracy to kill Vivekananda. According to the agency, the two hired staff who worked for Vivekananda, including Y Gangi Reddy, R Dastagir, and Sunil Yadav, to keep a watch on his movements and report to the MP. The CBI said after the murder the father and son tried to erase the evidence and sheltered the accused.
The CBI said Avinash first reached Vivekananda’s house after a domestic help found him in a pool of blood and raised an alarm. The MP told the police that Vivekananda died of a heart attack although he had stab wounds on his body. To hide the injuries, Avinash and the others tied bandages and shifted the body to the Pulivendula Government Hospital in an ambulance, disturbing the evidence and crime scene, the CBI alleged.
The investigative agency first questioned Avinash and Bhaskar Reddy on February 23 and 24. The CBI has named 250 persons as witnesses in the case and attached their statements. Much of the evidence that the agency is presenting comes from Vivekananda’s driver Dastagir who has turned approver and has given a confession statement under Section 164 before the Junior Civil Judge at Proddatur in Kadapa. The CBI filed the first chargesheet in the murder case on October 26, 2021, and a supplementary charge sheet on January 31, 2022. Last November, the Supreme Court transferred the probe and trial to a CBI court in Hyderabad after Vivekananda’s wife and daughter filed a petition doubting a fair trial in Andhra Pradesh.
