HYDERABAD: In a huge relief to Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy, who is in pursuit of legal remedies against being arrested by the CBI in connection with the Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy murder case, the vacation court of the Telangana High Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to him.
Justice M. Laxman, who finally heard the arguments in the anticipatory bail petition of Reddy, which has been pending before the High Court since April, on Wednesday directed the CBI to release him, in the event of his arrest.
However, the judge imposed several conditions. Avinash Reddy has been asked to execute personal bond for Rs 5 lakh with two sureties of similar amounts each and he shall not leave the country without CBI’s prior permission till the investigation is completed.
Avinash Reddy has to appear before the CBI police every Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm., all through June and appear as and when he is required for investigation.
The court said that roving enquiry of evidence was unnecessary while considering an 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 the conclusion.
The court pointed out the CBI discrepancies in investigation and insistence for the custodial interrogation of Avinash Reddy, without looking at other aspects. The court observed that the evidence that has been collected reflects that the scene of offence was tampered and important evidence was destroyed. The son-in-law of Vivekananda Reddy was also responsible for destroying some evidence by asking M.V. Krishna Reddy to keep a letter written by the deceased blaming driver Prasad at the scene.
It did not agree with the contentions of CBI that Avinash was at the spot and his alleged role in destroying evidence with the help of maids in Vivekananda Reddy’s house.
The order of the High Court stated “Different versions have been coming forward from the prosecution witnesses, but there is no direct evidence to show that Avinash Reddy has instructed to disturb the scene of offence”.
“The gravity of accusation against Avinash Reddy is not yet clearly brought on record by the CBI. The entire case rests upon hearsay evidence and assumptive evidence. This court does not find any justification for a custodial interrogation of Avinash Reddy by the CBI”, the court noted.
“The CBI also failed to go into the details of presence of a black Bolero at the house of one of the accused and presence of three persons with the accused just before the conspiracy was planned in his house on February 10, 2019’, the court observed.
