KADAPA: Following Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu raising suspicion over the sudden death of B Ranganna (70), house watchman of former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy and a key witness in his murder case, the government ordered a re-postmortem.
A 16-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by senior DSP Venkateswarlu was constituted to examine possible involvement of suspects, scientific evidence, and conduct a detailed probe.
During a Cabinet meeting on Friday, Naidu and his ministers discussed the suspicious nature of Ranganna’s death. Subsequently, DGP Harish Kumar Gupta was summoned, and after reviewing the details, the government decided to conduct a second postmortem.
Ranganna had been suffering from asthma and other health issues for the past three years. On March 5, he experienced severe breathing difficulty while his gunman, Naveen Reddy, was away on duty. His wife, Susheelamma, along with family members and police personnel, rushed him to Pulivendula Government Hospital, where he passed away at 6:30 pm. Following Susheelamma’s complaint, Pulivendula police registered a case under CRPC Section 170. An initial postmortem was conducted at Kadapa RIMS Hospital on March 6. However, as multiple key witnesses in the YS Vivekananda Reddy’s murder case have died under suspicious circumstances, the government took the case seriously.
On Saturday morning, under the supervision of Pulivendula tahsildar Mohammed Nazir, Ranganna’s body was exhumed from a cemetery near Loyola Degree College. A forensic team from Mangalagiri and Tirupati collected vital organ samples for examination.
The samples have been sent to Mangalagiri Forensic Lab for advanced testing. Strict security arrangements were in place during the postmortem process, with CI officers, SIs, and special party constables deployed.
Ranganna’s death adds to a growing list of key witnesses in the Vivekananda Reddy murder case who have died under mysterious circumstances. K Srinivasa Reddy died on September 3, 2019; YS Jagan’s driver, Narayana Yadav died on December 6, 2019; Gangadhar Reddy died in June 2022; Dr Abhishek Reddy died on January 10, 2025 and B Ranganna died on March 5, 2025.
With multiple witnesses dying one after another, suspicions have intensified over possible foul play by the accused in the case.