HC orders CBI probe into death of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's Uncle

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into the death of YS Vivekananda Reddy, an uncle of state chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and a former Lok Sabha member.

The order comes nearly a year after he was found dead under suspicious circumstances. The court, which observed that no significant progress had been made in the probe by the state agencies so far, allowed Jagan Mohan Reddy to withdraw his petition, filed when he was the Opposition leader, seeking a CBI probe.

YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy, ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly elections last year, had alleged the role of the then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s men behind the death of his uncle.


The court’s order came on a petition filed by Vivekananda Reddy’s widow and daughter, who aired doubts over the probe by the police of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. Vivekananda Reddy, the younger brother of Andhra Pradesh’s former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was found dead in his native village in Kadapa district on March 15 last year.

A two-time MP and MLA, Vivekananda Reddy had remained in the Congress for a few years after the death of his brother in a helicopter crash in September 2009. The then Andhra Pradesh government headed by Naidu had appointed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe into the death of Vivekananda Reddy.

However, Jagan Mohan Reddy had said he had no faith in the probe by the AP police under the supervision of Naidu and demanded a CBI probe.

Jagan Mohan Reddy, after coming to power in May last year, shuffled the SIT. Accusing that Jagan Mohan Reddy was shielding the real culprits and delaying the probe, Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party has been demanding to complete the probe and punish the culprits.