Hyderabad (IANS) | Former minister Y.S. In the murder of Vivekananda Reddy, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy is being questioned for the second consecutive day on Thursday. Avinash Reddy reached the agency’s regional office at 10.30 am on Thursday after being questioned for nearly eight hours on Wednesday.
CBI officer Avinash Reddy’s father Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy and another accused Udaya Kumar Reddy are also being interrogated for the second day. Both were brought to the CBI office from Chanchalguda Jail.
On the first day, the CBI officials had interrogated those people separately. It is not yet clear whether Avinash Reddy will be questioned in the presence of his father and Udaya Kumar Reddy.
The CBI team is gathering information from the accused about the motive behind the murder, events on the day of crime and their activities on that day.
As directed by the Telangana High Court, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s cousin Avinash Reddy is to appear before the CBI daily till April 25.
This was the fifth time YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP Avinash Reddy appeared before the CBI.
The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the CBI not to arrest Avinash Reddy till April 25.
The court, in its interim order on the MP’s anticipatory bail plea, has directed him to appear before the CBI daily till April 25.
The CBI had called Avinash Reddy for questioning on April 17, but the agency deferred the questioning twice to hear his anticipatory bail plea.
The final order on the anticipatory bail plea will be pronounced on April 25.
Bhaskar Reddy and Udaya Kumar Reddy were sent to six-day CBI custody on Tuesday. He will be questioned daily between 9 am and 5 pm.
Bhaskara Reddy was arrested by the CBI on April 16 while his follower Udaya Kumar Reddy was arrested on April 14 from Pulivendula town in Andhra Pradesh’s Cuddapah district. Both were brought to Hyderabad where a court sent them to judicial custody.
Former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s brother and Jagan Mohan Reddy’s uncle Vivekananda Reddy was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula on 15 March 2019, a few days before the elections.
The 68-year-old former state minister and ex-MP was alone at his house when unknown people barged into his house and killed him.
The CBI took over the probe in the case in 2020 on the direction of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, while hearing a petition by Sunita Reddy, daughter of Vivekananda Reddy, who had raised suspicions on some relatives.
The Supreme Court had transferred the case to Hyderabad in November last year after Sunitha Reddy raised doubts about the fair trial and investigation in Andhra Pradesh.
The Supreme Court has set April 30 as the deadline for the CBI to complete its investigation. The agency has intensified the probe with the arrest of Bhaskar Reddy and Uday Kumar Reddy and questioning of Avinash Reddy.
–IANS
