Telangana High Court Grants Anticipatory Bail To Kadapa MP Avinash Reddy In Vivekananda Reddy Murder Case

Observing that no direct evidence is available against him to prove his participation in a larger conspiracy, the Telangana High Court has granted anticipatory bail to the Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy in Vivekananda Reddy Murder case.

“From the investigation done so far, there is no allegation at any point of time CBI claimed about interference of the petitioner in the investigation and involved in tampering of evidence and threatening the witnesses and the complainant, except the allegation touching the destruction of scene of offence,” said the court.

The bench of Justice M. Laxman observed that the entire case rests upon “hear-say” and “assumptive evidence”.

“No direct evidence is available against the petitioner to prove his participation in larger conspiracy. They tried to rely upon the improved case of the witnesses and the approver,” said the court.

The court was hearing the pre-arrest plea of Reddy who was summoned by CBI in connection with a probe into the murder of his uncle Vivekananda Reddy murder case, a former MP leader of INC .

Justice Laxman observed that, “this Court is conscious of the fact that roving enquiry of evidence is unnecessary while considering the anticipatory bail application, but keeping in view of the importance of the incident and media debates, this Court is forced to consider the necessary evidence to have prima facie reasons for my conclusion.”

The bench said that different versions have been coming forward from the prosecution witnesses, but there is no direct evidence to show that the petitioner has instructed to disturb the scene of offence.

The counsel for the petitioner argued that the allegations attributed to Reddy, suggesting a strong motive to eliminate the deceased due to political rivalry and an apprehension of danger to his political career as an MP, have not been proven so far in the investigation.

“The own evidence of prosecution also shows that the deceased was not inclined to contest for MP ticket. The deceased's son-in-law's testimony demonstrates that even though the party had not officially proclaimed its nomination, the petitioner would have been a declared candidate for MP in actuality,” the court observed, adding it suggests that the party President was in favour of the petitioner to give ticket.

Justice Laxman also noted that the petitioner has cooperated with the CBI and he had responded seven times to the summons.

“At no point of time, for nearly more than two years, the CBI has … insisted for the arrest of the petitioner to have custodial interrogation. Even when previous summons were served for appearance, the CBI did not want to arrest the petitioner,” observed the court.

The court also said that the CBI for the last two and a half years could not collect any convincing evidence with regard to the participation of the petitioner in the larger conspiracy.

Relying on Apex Court’s decision in Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre V. State of Maharashtra, the court said, “when an accused is implicated with the help of Sections 34 and 149 of the IPC, the Court should consider with even greater care and caution because over implication in the cases is matter of concern.”

The court also said the information which CBI is expecting has already elicited from his previous interrogation without custody and also from other accused.

In light of the above, the court granted the anticipatory bail to Reddy stating that, “…this Court does not find any justification for a custodial interrogation of the petitioner by the CBI authorities and hence, this Court inclines to extend the anticipatory bail to the petitioner with certain conditions.”

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