• Source:JND
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The Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI on Sunday arrested YS Bhaskar Reddy, uncle of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, in connection with the murder of former MP Vivekananda Reddy.

Vivekananda Reddy was the brother of the late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Bhaskar Reddy is father of Kadapa MP Y. S. Avinash Reddy and uncle of Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI arrested Bhaskar Reddy from his residence at Pulivendula in Kadapa district.The CBI officials handed over the arrest memo to Bhaskar Reddy's family and took him into custody.

A large number of Bhaskar Reddy and Avinash Reddy's supporters had reached their residences.The CBI was shifting Bhaskar Reddy to Hyderabad where he will be produced before a magistrate by Sunday evening.

Bhaskar Reddy's arrest came two days after police arrested G. Uday Kumar Reddy, a close follower of Avinash Reddy, the nephew of the deceased who has been questioned by the agency multiple times in recent months. He was brought to Hyderabad and produced before a CBI court which sent him to judicial custody.

The CBI expedited the pace of the investigation after the Supreme Court last week constituted a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the agency and directed it to complete the investigation by April 30.

Bhaskar Reddy is the fifth accused to be arrested in the case. He and his son Avinash Reddy were earlier questioned by the CBI. Vivekananda Reddy was found murdered at his residence in Pulivendula of Kadapa district on the night of March 15, 2019, a few days before the elections. The 68-year-old former state minister and former MP were alone at his house when unidentified persons barged in and killed him.

The CBI took over the investigation into the case in 2020 on the direction of the Andhra Pradesh High Court while hearing a petition of Vivekananda Reddy's daughter Suneetha Reddy, who raised suspicion about some relatives. The CBI claimed that Rs 40 crore was offered to the other accused to carry out the murder.