VIJAYAWADA: A day after the letter shot off by suspended IPS officer AB Venkateswara Rao (ABV) to the Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) offering information on the murder of YS Vivekananda Reddy — former minister and MP and uncle of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy — came into light, the State police found fault with the former Intelligence chief for falsely implicating Jagan’s family members in the murder case.
Addressing the media on Sunday, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Technical) and official spokesperson G Palaraju, IPS Officers’ Association member RN Ammi Reddy and former Kadapa SP Rahul Dev Sharma said the former Intelligence chief violated All India Service rules by hiding evidence pertaining to the sensational murder case. Palaraju key facts of the case and criticised ABV for publicising the letter written to the CBI alleging that the investigation team did not make any effort in taking information from him. He demanded ABV why he did not share information with the previous investigation agencies though he played a crucial role in the investigation into the case as Intelligence chief at that time. “If he really wanted to help the investigation team for solving the murder case, he could have submitted the evidence to the CBI in a sealed cover. Instead, he made the letter public, alleging that the CBI too failed to take his help.”
Explaining the incidents took place in 2019, Palaraju said ABV was monitoring the investigation and sharing details with the then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. “The previous government ruled the State for three months after the murder. Then why didn’t he use the important information he had on the murder when he was an active part of the investigation. It is mandatory for any officer to disclose every single detail to the successor while leaving. Since the last one year, the case has been with the CBI and what took ABV more than two years to come out with this information?” Palaraju sought to know.
He also alleged that the 1988 batch IPS officer and the previous government put pressure on the then Kadapa SP Rahul Dev Sharma to arrest family members of Jagan Mohan Reddy, when he was the Opposition Leader. “We came to know that he (ABV) pressured the then SP Rahul Dev Sharma and other officers to implicate Jagan and his family in this murder case. There is no need to publicise the letters shot off to the CBI,” he opined, adding that denting state police’s image was ABV’s whole intention. Former Kadapa SP Rahul, who was at the press conference, admitted that he was pressured during the time of the investigation.
Palaraju also said that the act of ABV releasing the letter written to the CBI director and another letter to the Chief Secretary demanding a CBI probe into “creation of fake documents” to prove him guilty in the inquiry in the procurement of surveillance equipment is in violation of the AIS conduct rules. ABV can be liable for action under Sections 201 and 202 of the IPC and AIS rules. However, he didn’t say whether State police will initiate action against ABV or not.