Ex-minister murder case: SC stays Telangana HC order granting protection to YSRCP MP

PTI, Apr 21, 2023, 4:57 PM IST

New Delhi: Terming it ”atrocious and unacceptable”, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Telangana High Court order granting protection from arrest till April 25 to YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha member Y S Avinash Reddy in the murder of his uncle and former Andhra Pradesh Minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy.

The top court also stayed the high court order directing the CBI to give a questionnaire to Avinash Reddy in connection with the probe.

Observing that an ”atrocious and unacceptable” order was passed by the high court, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha issued notice on the plea challenging protection to Reddy.

The apex court also directed CBI not to arrest Avinash Reddy till Monday.

“Issue notice. There shall be a stay of the impugned directions contained in paragraph 18 of the impugned order of the High Court. However, till Monday the CBI shall not arrest him,” the bench said while posting the matter for hearing on April 24.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Dr Suneetha Narreddy, daughter Y S Vivekananda Reddy, challenging the high court order.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Suneetha, said the investigation was transferred from Andhra Pradesh to Hyderabad in Telangana due to political patronage being enjoyed by the accused lawmaker. When the apex court said it was inclined to stay the high court order, senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Avinash Reddy, said his client was sitting with CBI and may be arrested due to this order.

Vivekananda Reddy, one of the brothers of the late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was found murdered at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district, on the night of March 15, 2019, weeks before the Assembly elections in the state.

Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and a cousin of Avinash Reddy, is currently the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. The Telangana High Court on April 18 directed the YSRCP MP to appear for examination before the CBI every day and granted him protection from arrest till April 25.

In an interim order on the anticipatory bail plea of Avinash Reddy, the court asked him to cooperate with the central agency and appear before it daily till April 25.

The high court had directed the CBI to give him a questionnaire and said the examination of the accused lawmaker shall be audio-video recorded. The high court posted the matter for April 25 when it would pronounce the final order on the anticipatory bail petition.

Avinash Reddy filed the anticipatory bail petition in the high court ahead of appearing before the CBI. His father Y S Bhaskar Reddy, uncle of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, was arrested by the CBI on April 16 in connection with the murder of Vivekananda Reddy.

The CBI, which is investigating the murder case, had issued notice to Avinash Reddy, the Lok Sabha member from Kadapa, asking him to appear before it on April 17 for questioning. The MP had earlier appeared four times before the CBI.

Seeking anticipatory bail, the counsel representing Avinash Reddy had contended before the high court there was no material to connect him (Avinash Reddy) to the case except for the statement of one of the accused.

The murder case was initially probed by a special investigation team (SIT) of the state CID but was handed over to the CBI in July 2020.

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.