Viveka murder case: CBI issues fresh notice to Kadapa MP Avinash Reddy

Hyderabad, May 20 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) issued a fresh notice to Kadapa MP Y. S. Avinash Reddy on Saturday, a day after he skipped interrogation in the murder case of former Andhra Pradesh minister Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy.

The central agency has directed the MP to appear at its regional office in Hyderabad at 11 a.m. on May 22

The MP, who was to appear before the CBI on Friday, had left Hyderabad for his home town of Pulivendula in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district amid high drama.

There were reports that some CBI officials followed his vehicle. Irked over the media vehicles chasing them, some followers of Avinash Reddy had attacked a vehicle of a Telugu news channel.

The lawyers of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP had informed the CBI that he will be unable to appear before it as his mother had taken ill and he had to rush to Pulivendula. They requested the agency to give another date.

The MP on Friday evening reached Kurnool where his mother was admitted to a private hospital. He remained at the hospital with the mother on Saturday.

This was the second time in a week that Avinash Reddy has skipped the CBI questioning. The MP, who is cousin of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, had not appeared before the central agency on May 16.

Stating that he has pre-scheduled engagements in his parliamentary constituency, he had conveyed to the CBI that he was unable to appear at the short notice.

Avinash Reddy, who was in Hyderabad, had left for Pulivendula.

However, the same day the CBI issued him a fresh notice, directing him to appear at its regional office in Hyderabad at 11 a.m. on May 19.

The Supreme Court on May 17 refused to entertain the plea of Avinash Reddy for an urgent hearing on his petition seeking a direction to Telangana high court to grant him anticipatory bail.

The Kadapa MP, who was already questioned four times by the CBI, had last month approached Telangana High Court for anticipatory bail.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, uncle of Jagan Mohan Reddy, was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula on March 15, 2019, weeks before the elections.

Last month, the CBI arrested Avinash Reddy's father Y. S. Bhaskar Reddy. The agency told the court during the hearing on multiple occasions that Bhaskar Reddy, Avinash Reddy and their follower Devireddy Shiva Shankar Reddy hatched a conspiracy to murder Vivekananda Reddy as he had opposed the Kadapa Lok Sabha ticket to Avinash Reddy.

Avinash Reddy has denied the allegations against him and his father and alleged that the CBI ignored several key facts in the case.