The Supreme Court on May 23 conveyed its displeasure about the delay in Telangana High Court in deciding a pre-arrest bail plea filed by Lok Sabha MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy in connection with the murder of former Andhra Pradesh Minister Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy in 2019.
A Vacation Bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and P.S. Narasimha asked, “Like how much time does it take to decide on an anticipatory bail petition? We are not happy”.
It ordered the anticipatory bail petition to be listed before the High Court’s Vacation Bench on May 25.
On April 24, the apex court had set aside a series of “extraordinary” directions passed by the High Court on April 18, in which it had ordered the CBI to supply the Kadapa MP with its “questionnaire” and also share with him questions and answers in written form at the time of interrogation.
The apex court had said that such directions amounted to “stultifying” the entire investigation into the murder. The April 24 order had also exposed Mr. Reddy to arrest.
Mr. Reddy had subsequently moved the High Court twice in April for anticipatory bail, but to no avail. The High Court had posted the bail plea to June 5. This when the apex court had given the CBI a deadline to complete the probe by June 30.
Appearing for Mr. Reddy, senior advocate V. Giri submitted that his client’s personal liberty was hanging by a thread. The CBI had already arrested his father in the case.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, for Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter, Suneetha Narreddy, argued that Mr. Reddy was not cooperating with the CBI investigation.
Ms. Narreddy had argued in the apex court that the investigation was at a crucial stage.
The CBI is investigating the “larger conspiracy” behind the crime, she had submitted.
Former Minister Vivekananda Reddy was an uncle of current Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. He was found stabbed to death at his residence in Pulivendula, Kadapa district, in March 2019.
In November 2022, the Supreme Court had transferred the trial and probe into the larger conspiracy behind the murder to a CBI court in Hyderabad.
“The petitioners being the daughter and wife of the deceased have a fundamental right to get justice as victims… they have legitimate expectation that the criminal trial is conducted in a fair manner,” the court had observed in its November judgment.
