The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested G Uday Kumar Reddy in connection with the 2019 murder case of former Andhra Pradesh minister YS Vivekananda Reddy. Uday is a close follower of Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy, who is the nephew of the deceased and has been questioned by the agency several times in recent months. Uday was arrested in Pulivendula in Kadapa district after being issued a notice under section 41 A of the Criminal Procedure Code. He will be taken to Hyderabad, where a CBI court has been hearing the case since November 2020, following direction from the Supreme Court.
Uday, an employee of Uranium mine at Tummalapalli in Kadapa district, had filed a private case against CBI SP Ram Singh in Kadapa Court last year. The police booked Ram Singh in February last year following a complaint by Uday that the officer coerced him to give false testimony in the murder case. However, the Andhra Pradesh High Court later stayed the case against the CBI SP.
On the day Vivekananda Reddy was murdered at his residence, Uday had allegedly gone there along with Avinash Reddy and Shiva Shankar. Uday was allegedly present at the residence of YS Bhaskar Reddy, brother of the deceased and father of Avinash Reddy. Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and uncle of present Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, was found murdered at his residence in Pulivendula of Kadapa district on the night of March 15, 2019, a few days before the elections.
The CBI took over the investigation into the case in 2020 on the direction of Andhra Pradesh High Court while hearing a petition of Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Suneetha Reddy, who raised suspicion about some relatives. The Supreme Court transferred the case to Hyderabad in November last year while observing that doubts raised by Suneetha Reddy about getting a fair trial and investigation in Andhra Pradesh were reasonable. The deceased person’s brother Bhaskar Reddy and his son Avinash Reddy are facing allegations for their involvement in the murder. Avinash, cousin of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, has denied the allegations.
