YS Vivekananda Reddy killing: CBI says control over Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency led to brutal murder

Andhra Pradesh: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed the second and last chargesheet in the sensational murder of former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy.

An investigation by the CBI revealed that the motive behind his death was the control over the Kadapa MP seat which turned out to be a tug-of-war between the YSR family members.

Who was YS Viveka?

Vivekananda Reddy pursued an active political career. He served as the MLA of the Pulivendula constituency between 1989 and 1999. He served two terms as the MP from Kadapa and was later elected as the MLC in 2009. He also served as the agriculture minister.

The 2019 Viveka murder mystery

YS Vivekananda Reddy, one of the brothers of the late AP chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, and uncle of chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was found murdered at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district on the night of March 15, 2019, weeks before the assembly election in the state.

According to the FIR filed in Pulivendula police station in Kadapa, the personal assistant of Vivekananda, MV Krishna Reddy filed a complaint on March 15, 2019. On the fateful day, he visited Viveka’s residence at about 5:30 a.m. to wake him up. Despite knocking on the window pane, Viveka did not respond.

After the watchman of the house Ranganna informed that the side door was open, PA and Prakash (son of cook Lakshmi) went inside and noticed that the bedroom door was open and Viveka was lying in a pool of blood in the bathroom with injuries on the forehead, backside of the head and on the palm. The information was given to the son-in-law Raja Sekhar and his wife Sowbhyamma.

After the investigation, CBI filed the chargesheet against eight persons, Thumallapalli Gangi Reddy (A1), Yadati Sunil Yadav (A2), G Uma Shankar Reddy (A3) and Shaik Dastagiri (A4) D Siva Shankar Reddy (A5) G Uday Kumar Reddy (A6), YS Bhaskar Reddy (A7), and YS Avinash Reddy (A8). While seven among them are in judicial custody, Kadapa MP Avinash Reddy has been granted anticipatory bail by the Telangana High Court.

The case was initially probed by a special investigation team (SIT) but was handed over to the CBI in July 2020.

YSR brothers ruled the family

The CBI investigation revealed that the YS family has been influential and politically active in Andhra Pradesh, particularly in the Kadapa and Rayalseema regions.

YS Viveka’s father YS Raja Reddy was killed in a bomb accident at Vemula, Kadapa in 1998. YS Rajasekhar Reddy and YS Vivekananda Reddy became his political heir. Rajasekhar Reddy had major control since he was the dominant member of the family.

As for the other members, Raja Reddy extended financial help to his cousin late YS Chinna Konda Reddy but he did not return the money. Therefore, the assets of Konda Reddy were transferred to Raja Reddy’s family. Bhaskar Reddy (A7) who is the son of Konda Reddy did not like the transfer of assets.

In 1996, Jagan Mohan Reddy married Bharath, the daughter of Gangi Reddy, and Dr. Sugana Reddy, one of the sisters of Bhaskar Reddy.

Though Bhaskar Reddy and his family were ambitious to be in politics and wanted influential positions, Rajasekhar Reddy never encouraged them. It was always the YSR brothers who were dominating the politics. Further, Jagan Mohan Reddy became MP in 2009 on a Congress party ticket.

Rajasekhar Reddy died in a helicopter crash in September 2009. After his demise, K Rossaiya became the CM of Andhra Pradesh and Jagan formed a new political `YSRCP’. Jagan did not consult Viveka who was the only senior leader politician in the YSR family.

2011 by-election

In 2011, a by-election was held in AP. The Pulivendula seat was held by the Congress party from 1998 to 2009. S the party wanted to retain this seat. Viveka was made MLA candidate from Congress, while YS Vijayamma (mother of Jagan) was the candidate from YSRCP.

To resolve the issue, Jagan spoke to Viveka and asked him to contest as MP/MLA from YSRCP, to which he did not agree. Viveka lost in the by-election.

However, Viveka wanted Jagan to continue the YSR legacy in politics. He therefore quit Congress and joined YSRCP. By that time, Avinash Reddy (son of Bhaskar Reddy) was given a ticket from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency.

Viveka was given an MLC ticket in 2017 but he could not win. If he had won, Viveka would have been a strong contender for the Kadapa MP ticket.

Fight for MP ticket

While there was a fight for the MLC ticket where Siva Shankar Reddy (A5) wanted to contest for the MLC election, Jagan gave the ticket to Viveka.

This led to a grudge against Viveka by Shankar Reddy, Bhaskar Reddy, and Avinash Reddy. The trio with the help of Gangi Reddy (A1) sabotaged the MLC election in 2019 to ensure Viveka’s defeat. Gangi Reddy was a close associate of Viveka. After learning about this sabotage, Viveka scolded the trio.

“Vivekananda Reddy wanted the MP ticket from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency to be given to either himself or YS Sharmila (sister of Jagan) or YS Vijayamma instead of Avinash Reddy, incumbent Lok Sabha MP. Moreover, Viveka believed that Avinash Reddy was a weak candidate for MP Kadapa and therefore he wanted that Avinash should be given MLA ticket from the Jammalamadugu constituency instead of the MP ticket from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency,” the chargesheet read.

Criminal conspiracy

The CBI investigation revealed that the political move by YS Vivekananda Reddy was a hindrance in the coming elections for Avinash Reddy as he was being groomed to contest as an MLA candidate instead of an MP from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency. Therefore, to thwart the plan of Vivekananda Reddy, a criminal conspiracy was hatched with the help of D Siva Shankar Reddy (A5) who was an associate of Bhaskar Reddy and Avinash Reddy, besides having a criminal antecedent, to eliminate YS Vivekananda Reddy.

Then came the announcement for the Lok Sabha poll in 2019. The last date for filing a nomination was March 25, 2019. Avinash Reddy filed the nomination on March 17, and he was named candidate from Kadapa. However, on the intervening night of March 15, Viveka was murdered.

During the investigation, it was found that Avinash Reddy was involved in a Bangalore land dispute settlement in which Vivekananda Reddy and Gangi Reddy were also involved. This led to conflicts between Viveka and the accused regarding the settlement amount. The accused planned the murder citing that Viveka was greedy and had not given money to Gangi Reddy. However, there were no records to show that Viveka received the money as a settlement of the land dispute.

A payment of Rs 40 crores was made by Siva Shankar Reddy at the behest of A1, A5, A7, and A8. Dastagiri, who became an approver, was promised Rs 5 crore. “When Dasthagiri hesitated to kill Viveka, the others convinced him by claiming that this would help him settle in life. He was assured that powerful people would help him,” said the CBI chargesheet.

Fifteen days before the murder, Viveka’s pet dog Jimmy was killed when it was run over by a bike as the accused thought the canine would foil their designs.

As per a Google takeout recovered from Sunil Yadav’s mail ID, it is found that his mobile phone was outside Viveka’s home the day before the murder, which means that he had conducted recce for the murder plan. Dastagiri had also purchased an axe from Kadiri town.

On the day of the murder, Sunil Yadav, Uma Shankar, and Dastagiri entered his room. When Viveka asked them about their intentions, they said they wanted to discuss the money settlement. On the pretext of an argument, Sunil Yadav kicked Viveka and the other two attacked Viveka with the axe. Later, they broke the cupboard and took some land agreement documents.

During the investigation, the experts opined that the accused forced Viveka to write a false note mentioning that his driver Prasad had beaten him badly and he should not be spared. The letter was written in the handwriting of Viveka.

After examination, the CFSL at New Delhi said that the letter was written by Viveka under extreme duress.

Though watchman Ranganna knew about the accused visiting Viveka and also later saw Viveka lying in the bathroom, he did not tell anyone as he was given death threats.

CBI, in the chargesheet, said the agency requested the US authorities, through the Home Ministry, on some technical issues regarding the Wi-Fi router installed at the residence of the deceased.

The investigating agency also said during the investigations, some mobile phones were seized and sent to the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing Trivandrum for forensic analysis. The results are yet to come.

A daughter's fight

Dr N Suneetha, daughter of YS Vivekananda Reddy and the first cousin Jagan Mohan Reddy moved HC on January 29, 2020, seeking a CBI probe. In August 2022, Sunitha moved Supreme Court seeking shifting the murder trial to another state. In November 2022, the Supreme Court transferred the case to a special CBI court in Hyderabad.

Further, Suneetha Reddy brought to the attention of the Supreme Court that Jagan Mohan Reddy knew about the murder of former minister Vivekananda Reddy in advance.

During the hearing in June 2023, Suneetha presented arguments, highlighting several issues to the Supreme Court's attention. She brought many issues to the attention of the court and argued that the Telangana High Court has not considered many aspects, including the evidence collected by the CBI.

On MP Avinash Reddy being one of the accused, she argued that the Andhra Pradesh Government is supporting Avinash Reddy, and has the support of key people in the ruling party.

Her fight to get justice for her father's murder continues.

MP Avinash Reddy writes to CBI

Kadapa MP Avinash Reddy writes to Director of Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi seeking a review of the Viveka murder investigation. He alleged that former CBI investigating officer Ram Singh acted in a biased manner and threatened witnesses to implicate him and his father, YS Bhaskar Reddy, in the case. Earlier, after Supreme Court orders, Ram Singh was replaced with a new team to conduct investigation.

In a letter to the Director of CBI, Praveen Sood, he asked to critically examine the biased investigation done by Ram Singh.

"If the investigating agency believes the story of A4 Shaik Dastagiri, the case may be considered as 'Murder for gain' and investigate for the offences punishable u/s 457, 460, 394, 397, 398 & 302 IPC, recover the stolen documents from the house of the deceased and put the actual culprits behind bars and do justice to other innocent and me persons implicated in this case," read the letter.

He requested to rectify the wrongdoings committed by the earlier investigating officer Ram Singh, more particularly from September 2, 2021 on which date he examined Dr N Suneetha, and do Justice by filing final report exonerating him, his father, other accused Devireddi Siva Sankara Reddy, and Gajjela Uday Kumar Reddy who are no way connected with the murder.