Supreme Court "Unhappy" With Telangana HC For Not Deciding MP Avinash Reddy's Anticipatory Bail Plea In Murder Case, Directs Vacation Bench To Decide

“We are inclined to accept the prayer as the anticipatory bail which was taken up pursuant to the order passed by this court on 24.04.2023 was heard on … and no orders were passed. We direct that the Criminal Petition No….will be placed before the next vacation Bench on 25.05.2023.”

By an order dated 24.04.2023, the Supreme Court had set aside the order of the Telangana High Court which had granted YS Avinash Reddy interim protection from arrest and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct the investigation in the murder case. The Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud had also remarked in its order that such orders of the High Court cause grave prejudice to investigation.

Considering that YS Avinash Reddy’s anticipatory bail plea had already been heard by the High Court pursuant to the Supreme Court’s order dated 24.04.2023, a vacation Bench comprising Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice PS Narasimha clarified the fact that the earlier bench heard the matter will not come in the way of the vacation bench hearing it.

At the outset, when the Bench was apprised that the anticipatory bail application was taken up by the High Court on two dates, but no order was passed, Justice Narasimha expressed disappointment -

“We are not happy with the (High) Court not passing an order after our order (dated 24.04.2023). How much time does it require to pass an order in anticipatory bail?”

However, he added -

On the other hand, notices were issued by the CBI.”

As the submissions made by Senior Advocate VV Giri on behalf of YS Avinash Reddy was vehemently opposed by Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Suneetha Narreddy, daughter of YS Vivekananda Reddy, the Judges further clarified that no interim protection is being granted to him. The Bench is only directing the anticipatory bail plea to be considered by the vacation Bench of the High Court.

Background

YS Vivekananda Reddy, a member of the Indian National Congress and brother of the late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy was found murdered at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district in 2019. The case was initially probed by a special investigation team (SIT) of the state crime investigation department, but was handed over in July 2020 to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which filed a charge sheet in October 2021 and a supplementary charge sheet in January 2022.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation issued a summons to Avinash Reddy, hours after arresting YS Bhaskar Reddy, his father and uncle of Andhra chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy from his residence. In anticipation of his arrest, Avinash Reddy approached the high court. In a relief to Avinash Reddy, a single judge of the high court reserved its order till Tuesday, April 25, while granting him protection from arrest till then.

In November last year, the apex court had directed the trial of Vivekananda Reddy’s murder to be transferred from Andhra Pradesh to a special CBI court in Hyderabad, noting that the apprehensions raised by his wife and daughter regarding derailment of a fair trial were reasonable.

[Case Title: Suneetha Narreddy v. YS Avinash Reddy SLP(Crl) No. 5198/2023]