The Supreme Court also directed the CBI not to arrest Avinash Reddy till Monday.
New Delhi:
Terming it “dastardly and unacceptable”, the Supreme Court Friday asked the Telangana High Court to grant protection from arrest till April 25 to YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha member YS Avinash Reddy in connection with the murder of his uncle and former Andhra Pradesh minister YS Vivekananda Reddy. stayed the order. ,
The apex court also stayed the High Court order directing the CBI to give a questionnaire to Avinash Reddy in connection with the probe.
Noting that an “atrocious and unacceptable” order had been passed by the High Court, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha issued notice on the petition challenging Reddy.
The Supreme Court also directed the CBI not to arrest Avinash Reddy till Monday.
“Issue notice. The direction contained in paragraph 18 of the impugned order of the High Court shall remain in force. However, the CBI shall not arrest him till Monday,” the bench said while adjourning the matter to April 24. ,
The top court was hearing a petition by Dr Sunita Nareddy, daughter of YS Vivekananda Reddy, challenging the High Court order.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Sunita, said the investigation was shifted from Andhra Pradesh to Hyderabad in Telangana due to political patronage enjoyed by the accused MLA. When the apex court said that it was inclined to stay the High Court order, senior advocate Ranjith Kumar, appearing for Avinash Reddy, said that his client is siding with the CBI and may be arrested because of this order .
Vivekananda Reddy, one of the brothers of late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula in Cuddapah district on the night of March 15, 2019, weeks before the state assembly elections. YS Jaganmohan Reddy, son of YS Rajasekhara Reddy and 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 before the CBI every day for questioning and granted him protection from arrest till April 25.
In an interim order on Avinash Reddy’s anticipatory bail plea, the court asked him to cooperate with the central agency and appear daily till April 25.
The High Court had directed the CBI to give him a questionnaire and said that the examination of the accused MLA would be audio-video recorded. The High Court adjourned the matter to April 25 when it would pronounce the final order on the anticipatory bail plea.
Avinash Reddy filed an anticipatory bail application in the High Court before appearing before the CBI. His father YS Bhaskar Reddy, uncle of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, was arrested by the CBI on 16 April in connection with the murder of Vivekananda Reddy.
The CBI probing the murder case had issued a notice to Kadapa Lok Sabha member Avinash Reddy asking him to appear for questioning on April 17. The MP has appeared before the CBI four times earlier.
Seeking anticipatory bail, the counsel representing Avinash Reddy had contended before the High Court that there was no material to link him (Avinash Reddy) to the case except the statement of one of the accused.
The murder case was initially investigated 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 a supplementary charge sheet on January 31, 2022.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)