In yet another twist to former minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy’s murder case, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of bail granted to Yerra Gangi Reddy, the prime accused in the case.
The CBI, which has been proving the case since 2020 following a high court order, said in its petition that it had specific information that Gangi Reddy has been threatening the witnesses in the Vivekananda Reddy murder case.
Viveka was murdered on the night of March 15 at his own residence Pulivendula in Kadapa district and a special investigation team of the state police which initially probed the case made Gangi Reddy and three others as the accused.
However, soon after YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power in May 2019, the accused obtained bail from the court in June 2019 from the local sessions court.
The CBI, which took over the case from the SIT following the high court order in 2020, filed charge sheets against the accused on October 26, 2021 and a supplementary charge sheet on January 31, 2022. The matter is yet to conclude.
At the same time, the CBI also challenged the lower court’s decision to grant bail to Gangi Reddy and others, as it felt the accused would threaten the witnesses in the case.
In March this year, a high court bench headed by Justice C Manavendranath Roy dismissed the CBI petition seeking cancellation of the bail given to Gangi Reddy. The CBI wanted the bail to be cancelled on the ground that Gangi Reddy was allegedly threatening some witnesses in the sensational case.
The high court judge said the CBI had failed to establish with any acceptable and authenticated material that Gangi Reddy ha dbeen interfering with the course of investigation or influencing the witnesses or tampering with the prosecution evidence to cancel his bail.
The court, however, directed the Sheik Dastagiri, one of the accused who later turned an approver, be given adequate security, in view of the threat to his life from some persons.
