NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Telangana High Court order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to refrain from arresting Kadapa MP of the YSR Congress Party, Avinash Reddy till April 25, 2023.
The top court also described as "atrocious" the order passed by the Telangana HC on April 18.
The HC had ordered Avinash Reddy to appear before the CBI at 10.30 am from April 19 to 25 in connection with the late MP YS Vivekananda Reddy murder case. Vivekananda Reddy was the brother of late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
The Kadapa MP is an accused in the case. The high court, however, refrained the CBI from arresting Avinash Reddy stating that it would pass final orders based on the report submitted by the CBI after quizzing him.
A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha while staying HCs direction questioned, “What kind of order is this by the HC? It’s an atrocious order. Unacceptable. This order can’t remain Mr Ranjit Kumar,” the CJI remarked.
Court’s order came in a plea filed by Dr Suneetha Narreddy challenging HCs order. Narreddy in the plea has argued that the HC has erroneously gone into the merits of the case while passing the impugned order which is contrary to the law laid down by SC.
Slamming CBI for its lackadaisical approach in the probe of YS Vivekananda murder case, Supreme Court on March 29 had constituted a new Special Investigation team under the leadership of Deputy Inspector General Keshav Ram Chaurasia. A bench led by Justices MR Shah also directed the CBI to complete the investigation by April 30, 2023.
For Narreddy, Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra said that the order was troublesome as the case was still under investigation by the CBI. “The current order is very troublesome. The case is till under investigation. They’re treating him as house guest,” Luthra submitted.
Her plea had said that “Investigation is at a crucial stage where the CBI is investigating the alleged larger conspiracy as directed by this Hon'ble Court and for this the CBI should be allowed to investigate freely without any restriction. Moreover, the Hon'ble High Court has practically derailed the investigation process at this crucial juncture without giving due importance to the date of 30.4.2023, by which time the CBI is required to conclude the investigation.”