With the Central Bureau of Investigation closing in on YSR Congress party MP from Kadapa and Andhra chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s cousin Y S Avinash Reddy in connection with the murder of former minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy, the YSR Congress party appears to have decided to launch a counter-attack.
It was evident from the complaint lodged by one Kalluri Gangadhar Reddy, a close aide of Avinash’s associate Devireddy Shiva Shankar Reddy, with the Anantapur superintendent of police Dr K Fakeerappa on Monday.
Gangadhar made a blatant allegation that the CBI, in collusion with Viveka’s daughter Sunitha Reddy, was trying to fix Avinash Reddy in the murder case.
He said the CBI authorities had brought pressure on him to admit before the court that he was offered a bribe of Rs 10 crore to own up Viveka’s murder.
He went to the extent of alleging that the CBI had even promised to pay Rs 10 lakh to him for giving a statement against Avinash Reddy, Gangi Reddy, Devireddy and Bhaskar Reddy.
The CBI wanted Gangadhar to admit that the four had killed Viveka and asked him to own up the murder for which he would be paid Rs 10 crore.
Within minutes of Gangadhar lodging the complaint with the Anantapur SP, he was granted security and escort by the police. The SP announced that an investigating officer of DSP rank had been appointed to look into the complaint.
“We shall take up investigation in all angles and complete the probe within a week,” the SP added.
The allegations against the CBI and Viveka’s own daughter indicate that the YSRC is launching an offensive against the central investigation agency.
Interestingly, the complaint lodged by Gangadhar and his video byte were leaked to the media by the chief minister’s office, requesting them to carry it prominently.
Obviously, the YSRC is trying to force the CBI to go on the defensive by making allegations against the agency. It wants to establish that the agency was acting under pressure from some “external political forces” to implicate Jagan’s cousin and party MP in the Viveka murder case.
In fact, the chief minister himself said in the assembly that Avinash had no connection with whatsoever with Viveka’s murder.
“Vivekananda Reddy is my uncle and Avinash is the son of another uncle. How can a person piece his eye with his own finger?” he asked.