Ex-Pulivendula inspector Shankaraiah serves legal notice to AP CM Naidu for 'linking' him to Vivekananda's murder

Amaravati: Former Pulivendula Circle Inspector J. Shankaraiah has issued a legal notice to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for allegedly linking him to the murder of former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy.

Shankaraiah demanded that the CM issue a public apology in the Assembly and pay ₹1.45 crore compensation for defamation.

Shankaracharya is currently serving on VR in the Kurnool range. The notices, served on September 18, 2025, through his counsel G. Dharaneswara Reddy, allege that Chandrababu repeatedly made false and malicious statements linking him to the case, with the intent to damage his personal reputation.

Shankaracharya's legal notice to Naidu has become a topic of discussion in political circles.

Chandrababu Naidu has often alleged that the accused destroyed evidence and wiped away bloodstains in the presence of CI Shankaraiah after Vivekananda Reddy was murdered in March 2019. Following the incident, the government suspended Shankaraiah for dereliction of duty.

In his initial testimony to the CBI, Shankaraiah claimed that Kadapa MP Avinash Reddy and his aide Devireddy Sivashankar Reddy had pressured him not to register a case, not to send the body for postmortem, and not to reveal that there were injuries on the body. However, he later failed to appear before the magistrate to record his statement, citing other work.

Subsequently, in October 2021, the then YSRCP government revoked his suspension within a week. The CBI told the court that. Shankaracharya changed his mind under pressure from the accused.