Consider CBI plea on bail cancellation: SC directs T’gana HC in former Andhra min’s murder case

Gangi Reddy was granted default bail by a local court in Kadapa in October 2021 on technical grounds as the CBI, which is investigating the murder case, failed to file the charge sheet within 90 days of registering the first information report (FIR).

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Telangana high court to re-examine the petition of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking to cancel the bail granted to Tumma Gangi Reddy alias Yerra Gangi Reddy, one of the main accused in the murder of former Andhra Pradesh minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy in Kadapa district in March 2019.

Later, the state high court also upheld the decision of the lower court. (ANI)

Gangi Reddy was granted default bail by a local court in Kadapa in October 2021 on technical grounds as the CBI, which is investigating the murder case, failed to file the charge sheet within 90 days of registering the first information report (FIR). Later, the state high court also upheld the decision of the lower court.

Reacting to a petition filed by the CBI challenging the state high court order, a division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising justices M R Shah and C T Ravi Kumar, felt that the default bail could be cancelled based on merits, though it was granted to Gangi Reddy after the 90 days of filing the charge sheet.

Setting aside an order of the high court, which had rejected the CBI plea for cancellation of default bail, the Supreme Court bench observed that the release of an accused person on default bail will not act as an absolute bar to consider a plea for cancellation of bail on merits after the presentation of the charge sheet.

It said the high court cannot be compelled not to consider the gravity of the offence or examine the merits of the case when the accused was not released on merits earlier. The bench remanded the matter back to the high court for fresh consideration.

“Mere non-filing of chargesheet (within statutory deadline) will not be enough when a strong case is made out. Matter remanded to High Court to consider the matter afresh in accordance with law and on merits,” the Supreme Court ordered.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and uncle of present Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, was hacked to death at his residence in Pulivendula of Kadapa district on the night of March 15, 2019.

The case was initially investigated by a special investigation team (SIT) of the state criminal investigation department but was handed over to the CBI in July 2020, on a direction from the state high court based on a petition from the deceased’s wife Sowbhagyamma, daughter N Sunitha and others.

The CBI, which filed its charge sheet on October 26, 2021, named four persons – Yerra Gangi Reddy, Y Sunil Yadav, G Uma Shankar Reddy and Shaik Dastagiri as the prime accused in the murder of Viveka, as the slain MP was popularly known.

However, the trial in the CBI court at Kadapa made little progress, as some of the witnesses and those facing charges filed private cases against the investigating officers. In her petition in the Supreme Court this April, Sunitha said those facing charges themselves are filing cases against the CBI officials stating that the central agency was harassing them.

Sunitha requested that the Supreme Court monitor every stage of investigation by the CBI till it is completed as there was a possibility of the accused wiping out the evidence and intimidating the CBI authorities.

On November 29, the Supreme Court transferred the trial in the Vivekananda Reddy murder case to a Special CBI Court in Hyderabad.