NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider tomorrow a plea challenging Telangana High Court’s April 18 order of protecting Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy, accused in the murder case of YS Vivekananda Reddy, till April 25, by directing the CBI not to arrest him.
The plea filed by Dr Suneetha Narreddy challenging the HC’s order was mentioned by senior advocate Siddharth Luthra before the bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar. Telangana HC in its April 18 order had directed Kadapa MP to attend the CBI office at 10.30 am from April 19 to April 25, but had passed the order protecting him. The HC had stated that it would pass the final order on the basis of the CBI report after questioning the MP.
Dr Suneetha, 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 the SC. Slamming the CBI for its lackadaisical approach in the probe of Vivekananda murder case, the 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.
“Investigation is at a crucial stage where the CBI is investigating the alleged larger conspiracy as directed by this Hon’ble Court. 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,” the plea stated.
Just a month before the general elections, former MP YS Vivekananda Reddy, uncle of chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and younger brother of Jagan’s father and former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was found murdered in his house. He was murdered in his house at Pulivendula in Kadapa district on March 15, 2019.