HYDERABAD: In its 38-page counter submitted to the Telangana High Court on Thursday, the CBI said that Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy, his father Bhaskar Reddy and one of his supporters Siva Shankar Reddy conspired to murder YS Vivekananda Reddy due to divergent political goals. The CBI filed the counter opposing the bail request made by Yadati Sunil Yadav (A-2), of one those accused in the Vivekananda Reddy murder case.
The CBI said that Sunil Yadav was acquainted with Vivekananda Reddy for around 1.5 years before his death. However, Vivekananda Reddy, was not happy with Yadav as he had tried to defraud him. “Hence, when T Gangi Reddy alias Y Gangi Reddy (A-1) asked Yadav to take part in the murder of Vivekananda Reddy in exchange for a share of a promised sum of `40 crore, Yadav agreed to join the conspiracy,” the counter said.
According to the CBI, Vivekananda Reddy discovered that Gangi Reddy, Siva Shankar Reddy, Bhaskar Reddy and Avinash Reddy rigged the MLC polls and lost on purpose. The agency said that following this, Vivekananda Reddy went to the home of Avinash Reddy and Bhaskar Reddy and chastised Gangi Reddy for misleading him during the MLC election.
This upset Bhaskar Reddy and Avinash Reddy, the counter said. It said that circumstantial evidence suggests that they conspired with Siva Shankar Reddy (A-5), who had a criminal history and had assisted them in rigging the MLC election.
According to the CBI, Siva Shankar Reddy recruited Gangi Reddy to carry out his plan to kill Vivekananda Reddy. Gangi Reddy held a grudge against Vivekananda Reddy for a variety of reasons, but continued to be associated with him to monitor his daily activities and get access to his home.
The CBI said that on November 18, 2021, as Siva Shankar Reddy (A-5) was being presented before the judicial magistrate in Pulivendula, Avinash Reddy entered the courtroom with a sizable group of supporters and interrupted the IO of the case as he was completing the necessary legal procedures to remand Siva Shankar Reddy. He demanded to know from the IO why Siva Shankar Reddy was detained.
The CBI said that the police officers at the scene of the crime decided to clean and bandage the body after moving it from the bathroom to the bedroom at the request of certain interested parties, rather than preserve the sanctity of the crime scene. The blood that was collected in the bedroom and bathroom was wiped, clearly to obliterate crucial evidence. The police officers in attendance showed no sign of wanting to preserve the murder scene and instead acted as silent observers, the counter said. Police and those present at the scene at the time committed a critical and expensive error, it said.