VIJAYAWADA: Sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday arrested YS Bhaskar Reddy, father of Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy and uncle of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, for allegedly hatching a plan to eliminate former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy and also playing an active role in destroying the crime scene along with the other accused in the case.
Later in the day, the investigation agency issued a notice to YS Avinash Reddy and asked him appear before it at the CBI Office in Hyderabad at 3 pm on Monday. The CBI said the conspiracy to eliminate Vivekananda was hatched at the behest of Bhaskar Reddy and others one month prior to the murder. Citing mobile signal location, the investigation agency said one of the key assailants was in Bhaskar Reddy’s house hours before the murder.
Bhaskar was produced before a court in Hyderabad and remanded to 14 days in judicial remand. Later, he was shifted to Central Prison at Chanchalguda. The development comes two days after the arrest of G Uday Kumar Reddy, another accused in the case.
A team of CBI officers visited Bhaskar Reddy’s residence in Pulivendula and conducted searches early in the morning. Later, they handed over an arrest memo to his wife Lakshmi and shifted him to Hyderabad. In the remand report, the CBI said Bhaskar Reddy and his family, including one of the accused D Siva Shankar Reddy, were unhappy with Viveka for ‘various reasons.’
“Due to their (Bhaskar Reddy and others) internal sabotage in 2017 MLC polls, the deceased lost the elections and expressed his anger on them,” the investigating agency said.As per the statement of Shaik Dasthagiri, accused-turned-approver in the case, the CBI said, Siva Shankar had promised to give all the accused Rs 40 crore on behalf of Bhaskar Reddy and others.
Dasthagiri received Rs 1 crore in advance through Y Sunil Yadav, accused no. 2 in the case.Further, the CBI said Ranganna, Viveka’s watchman, saw four accused -- Y Gangi Reddy, Y Sunil Yadav, G Umashankar Reddy and Shaik Dasthagiri - flee the former minister’s house after killing him.
“During investigation, it was found Sunil Yadav was in Bhaskar’s residence at 1.58am on March 15, 2019 (the day of the murder),” the CBI said and added, Gangi Reddy had called Dasthagiri at 5.20 am, asking him not to worry and that he had talked to Bhaskar Reddy and others who had assured to “handle everything”.
“The subsequent act of portraying heart attack as the reason for Viveka’s death and destroying the crime scene in the presence of (Kadapa MP) YS Avinash Reddy, Bhaskar Reddy, D Sivashankar Reddy, G Uday Kumar Reddy and Y Gangi Reddy corroborates the disclosure of Dasthagiri’s statement,” the CBI explained.
It added that Uday Kumar, another accused, left his home early in the morning and kept roaming in Pulivendula till 4.01am. “Forensic analysis of Google Takeout of Uday Kumar carried out by Central Forensic Sciences Limited (CFSL) in New Delhi revealed that the location of the accused’s mobile phone was inside Avinash Reddy’s house at 6.25 pm and later it was found at Viveka’s residence between 6.29 am and 6.31 pm,” the probe agency said.
Elaborating, the CBI said several people visited Viveka’s house after receiving the news of his death at the time when the destruction of scene crime was going on. Some of them noticed that Bhaskar Reddy had locked the bedroom and was allowing only a few select people inside. “People who had seen the crime scene and dead body clearly noted that it was a case of murder and not heart attack,” the CBI added.
After shifting the body from the bathroom to bedroom, on the instructions of Bhaskar Reddy and others, Viveka’s injuries were bandaged.“The floating of heart attack theory followed by cleaning of blood from bedroom and bathroom, application of cotton and bandages on the injuries and the arrangement of a freezer with an intention to conceal the design of murder and to arrange flowers on the dead body for public display are all part of the conspiracy. The accused also threatened local police inspector J Shankaraiah to keep mum and make the death look like a case of heart attack,” the CBI said.
The probe agency further said Bhaskar Reddy and his associates convinced the visitors that Vivekananda had died due to blood vomiting and heart attack. The CBI also said Bhaskar Reddy and others were found influencing vital witnesses through their close associates.
Alleging that the accused had not cooperated with the investigation and gave misleading response, the CBI sought judicial remand of Bhaskar Reddy as he is an influential person and apprehended that he may influence vital witnesses being examined in due course.“There was also the likelihood that he might abscond and not be available for investigation,” the CBI said.Meanwhile, YSRC cadre staged peaceful protests in Pulivendula and business establishments downed shutters protesting the ‘illegal’ arrest of Bhaskar Reddy.
CBI charges
Bhaskar Reddy hatched plan with others a month before murder
Portrayed death as heart attack
Played key role in destroying crime scene
Threatened local police inspecto