MP Vijaya Sai Reddy writes against appointment of IPS officer H Venkatesh as CBI-JD

Hyderabad: Rajya Sabha MP V.Vijaya Sai Reddy, a close aide of AP Chief Minister, has written to Home Minister Amit Shah, objecting the appointment of a top cop as CBI’s joint director- Hyderabad. He alleged that the IPS officer is a close associate with Ex- CBI JD V V Lakshminarayana, now with the Jana Sena Party.

In a letter, dated December 30, 2019, MP Vijay Sai Reddy, said, “A person by name Mr H Venkatesh is trying to get himself appointed as Joint Director in CBI-ACB Hyderabad. The cop hails from Andhra Pradesh and has a strong political leaning towards Telugu Desam Party. Besides this, the cop has financial connections with EX-JD V.V Laxminarayana as he worked as a superintendent of police – CBI during the latter’s tenure in the CBI’.

He further added, The IPS officer is trying to portray that he hails from Karnataka and has no political connections, which is not valid. His parents are natives of Andhra Pradesh. I request you to appoint an officer from any other state, but not AP and with no political connections’.

The MP also alleged that, during V V Lakshminarayana’s tenure as Joint Director , CBI foisted cases against YSRCP president Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy. He accused the former CBI chief of working on the behest of TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who would pass instructions through V. Radhakrishna, owner of Regional News agency, to trouble Jagan in the disproportionate cases booked against him’.

“ I have come to know that CBI had conducted an internal inquiry against its own former chief V.V Lakshminarayana following allegations over his misconduct. An RTI response revealed that during his tenure, the he was in constant touch with Chandrababu Naidu and Radhakrishna, they conversed over landline. It is known that he also tried for a TDP ticket to contest from Vishakapatnam parliament constituency but later joined Jana Sena Party’ Vijaya Sai Reddy said.

According to the MP, the current Joint director - CBI- Anti Corruption Bureau, AYV Krishna also holds strong political connections with Lakshminarayana. " The appointment of the Joint Director -CBI -Hyderabad is being done with a mala fide and political interest'the MP stated.

Who is IPS officer H. Venkatesh

IPS officer H Venkatesh served as the chief investigating officer in the disproportionate assets case against then Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and now the Chief Minister. He continued to oversee probe in the case under the tenure of Former Ex-CBI- JD V V Lakshminarayana, He is a 1998 batch IPS officer of the Kerala cadre.