E-Paper
Telangana high court grants anticipatory bail to YSCRP MP in Vivekananda Reddy murder case
The judge also ruled that the MP shall not leave the country without the prior permission from the CBI, till the investigation is completed.
Hyderabad
The Telangana high court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to YSR Congress party MP from Kadapa Y S Avinash Reddy in the case pertaining to the murder of his uncle and former minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy in March 2019.
In his 30-page judgement, a copy of which was reviewed by HT, Justice M Lakshman of the vacation bench of the state high court, directed that Avinash Reddy, cousin of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, be released on bail immediately, in the event of his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on executing a personal bond for ₹5 lakh with two sureties, each for the same amount.
The judge also ruled that the MP shall not leave the country without the prior permission from the CBI, till the investigation is completed. “He shall not tamper with the prosecution witnesses or alter any evidence and cooperate with the investigation and shall appear before the CBI authorities on every Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm till the end of June, 2023, when the probe is supposed to come to an end.
“Avinash Reddy shall regularly appear as and when he is required for investigation. He shall not act in any manner which will be prejudicial to fair and expeditious investigation,” the judge said.
Justice Lakshman said going by the investigation done by the CBI so far, there is no evidence to prove the interference of Avinash Reddy in the investigation and that he was involved in tampering of evidence and threatening the witnesses, except the allegation that he had tried to destroy scene of offence.
“The gravity of accusation (against the MP) has not yet been clearly brought on record by the CBI so far. The entire case against him rests upon hearsay evidence and assumptive evidence and no direct evidence is available against him to prove his participation in larger conspiracy,” the judge said.
He said the high court did not find any justification for a custodial interrogation of Avinash Reddy by the CBI authorities. “Hence, this court inclines to extend the anticipatory bail to the petitioner with certain conditions. In the event of the MP committing any default, it is open to the CBI to seek cancellation of anticipatory bail,” the judge said.
The court found fault with the investigating officer for not registering the FIR under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, even after observing multiple injuries over the body of Vivekananda Reddy, but registered under Section 174 of CrPC (Suspicious death).
“It is the fault of the Investigating Officer and it cannot be attributed to the influence of Avinash Reddy. It was at 3 pm that the section of law was altered after the inquest was completed,” the judge noted.
Vivekananda Reddy was found stabbed to death at his house in Pulivendula on March 15, 2019, weeks ahead of the assembly elections. The CBI, which took up the investigation of the case in July 2020 following an order from the Andhra Pradesh high court, is suspecting that Avinash Reddy is the main conspirator behind the murder for political reasons.
The agency questioned Avinash Reddy five times in the last four months to elicit information about the murder. However, the MP refused to appear before the CBI after it issued fresh summons to him on May 16, on the ground that his anticipatory bail petition in the Telangana high court had been pending hearing since April 28 and was deferred to June 2.
Since then, he has been dodging appearing before the CBI despite getting fresh summons from the agency on the ground that his mother had been undergoing treatment for heart ailments. He even moved the Supreme Court to give a direction to the high court to expedite his bail petition. On a direction from the Supreme Court, the vacation bench of the high court which posted his bail petition for hearing Wednesday.
