VIJAYAWADA: Former Director General of Police Gautam Sawang on Wednesday said Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had never interfered in the investigation of former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy murder case. Responding to reports in a section of the media against him in connection with the investigation of the Vivekananda Reddy murder case, Sawang, who is now the Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC), said the averments were “categorical misrepresentation of facts and misquotes made out of context.”
Rebutting the contents of the reports that YS Avinash Reddy (Kadapa MP) and two others — EC Surendranath Reddy and D Siva Shankar Reddy — met him as directed by the Chief Minister, Sawang clarified that the trio never met him in connection with the case when he was the DGP.
On his remarks about Jagan referring to them as “two eyes”, he recalled that Jagan said the same to Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Suneetha Reddy and her husband Rajasekhar Reddy when they came to meet him in September 2019. “The Chief Minister had indeed told me that the families of late YS Vivekananda Reddy and Avinash Reddy were like two eyes to him and that he wanted the probe to be done thoroughly, fairly and meticulously until the truth emerged,’’ the former DGP said.
Sawang said the Chief Minister directed him to conduct a free and fair probe into the murder of Vivekananda Reddy and ensure that no innocent was made to suffer. “Even during the court hearing, the Chief Minister instructed us to place all material and facts before the it and wanted us to comply with the court directions, if it handed over the probe to the CBI,” he said.