In yet another development in the case related to the murder of former Andhra Pradesh minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy six years ago, his daughter Dr N Sunitha Reddy on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of bail granted to Gajjala Uday Kumar Reddy, one of the key accused in the case.
The petition was heard by a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna.
The CJI questioned Sunitha’s lawyers about the alleged role of Uday Kumar Reddy in the murder case of Vivekananda Reddy.
Sunitha Reddy’s legal team informed the court that Uday Kumar Reddy was among those who initially portrayed the murder as a case of a heart attack. Taking note of these claims, the Supreme Court has issued notices to Uday Kumar Reddy.
The court also directed that the current petition be clubbed with previously filed related petitions in the case. The CJI adjourned the matter to a later date for further hearing.
In August 2024, the Telangana high court granted regular bail to Gajjala Uday Kumar Reddy, a close aide of YSRCP’s Lok Sabha member Y S Avinash Reddy, who is also named as an accused in the case.
Uday Kumar Reddy was incarcerated in Chanchalguda prison since his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on March 14, 2023.
Reddy had previously filed multiple bail petitions before the CBI court and the High Court, all of which were rejected.
However, the high court granted him bail on his latest petition, noting that most of the other accused in the case had been granted either anticipatory or regular bail, and one had even been accepted as an approver.
The CBI sleuths arrested Uday Kumar Reddy from the residence of the MP’s father Y S Bhaskar Reddy at Pulivendula on March 13, 2023.
It said the forensic analysis of Google takeout carried out by Central Forensic Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, revealed that Uday was present at the house of Avinash Reddy at 6.25 am on the day of murder.
The CBI alleged that Avinash Reddy, along with his aides Devineni Siva Shankar Reddy, Uday Kumar Reddy and others, after finding Vivekananda Reddy in a pool of blood in the bathroom, tried to float the theory that the former MP had died of heart attack and heavy blood vomiting.
“Later, they got the entire premises cleaned. Cotton and bandages were arranged and applied to hide the grievous injuries on the body of Vivekanda Reddy which was later shifted to the government hospital, Pulivendula in an ambulance,” the affidavit said.
