Viveka case: ED issues notice to MP Avinash Reddy

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a notice to Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy and directed him to appear before it on October 14 in connection with the investigation into alleged financial transactions related to the murder of his uncle and former Andhra Pradesh minister Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy.

Avinash Reddy, one of the accused in the 2019 murder case, is the cousin of former Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party President Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

After questioning Yerra Gangi Reddy and other accused in connection with the alleged financial transactions linked to the case, the ED has now summoned the YSR Congress Party MP.

Gangi Reddy appeared before the ED officials in Hyderabad for two days (September 28 and 29).

The Central agency also questioned Uma Shankar Reddy, Sunil Yadav and Shaik Dastagiri, an accused-turned-approver, as part of the probe into the alleged money laundering and financial transactions connected with the murder conspiracy.

The ED last week questioned and recorded Sunil Yadav’s statement. Gangi Reddy and Umashankar Reddy were reportedly questioned based on this statement.

The agency is probing the financial transactions before the murder as the CBI suspects that Rs 40 crore ‘supari’ (contract) was offered to the accused to kill Vivekananda Reddy.

The ED began a money laundering probe on the basis of the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the charge sheets filed by it.

It was in August last year that the ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR). The ED is also looking into the alleged transfer of Rs 4 crore and the payment of Rs 1 crore as an advance to Shaik Dastagiri.

Last month, the ED conducted searches at multiple locations, including the premises linked to Avinash Reddy, his father Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy, and other accused in the murder case.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), and uncle of former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula on March 15, 2019, weeks before the elections.

The 68-year-old former state minister and former MP was alone at his house when unidentified persons barged in and killed him.

The CBI took over the investigation in 2020 at the direction of the Andhra Pradesh High Court while hearing a petition by Vivekananda Reddy's daughter, Sunitha Reddy, who raised suspicion about some relatives.

Expediting the probe, the CBI in 2023 arrested Bhaskar Reddy and his follower, Uday Kumar Reddy. It filed the first charge sheet in the case in 2021 and supplementary charge sheets in 2022 and 2023.