Former IAS officer Ajeya Kallam has challenged the supplementary chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case of Vivekananda Reddy, a former Member of the Parliament (MP), who was found dead in his home in Pulivendula on March 15, 2019.
The supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI in the court of Special Judge for CBI cases, Hyderabad, had a witness statement by Ajeya Kallam attesting that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Reddy had been informed about the death of his uncle, Vivekananda Reddy, at 5.30 am on March 15, 2019.
Kallam contested the witness statement saying that it contained falsehoods and was a distorted version of what he had stated. In his complaint, he stated that he had told the investigating officer that a meeting of YSRCP’s manifesto committee was underway on the early morning of March 15, 2019, which he had attended along with the then Leader of Opposition and others. “I had clearly stated that the meeting for the preparation of the manifesto of YSRCP commenced in the house of Jagan Mohan Reddy at around 5 am on March 15, 2019, and after one and half hours thereafter (6.30 am), an attendant knocked the door of the meeting hall, and the officer on special duty to Jagan Mohan Reddy went to attend to the knock and came back into the room and whispered something to Jagan Mohan Reddy who immediately got up expressing his shock and surprise and said that his chinanna (uncle) had died.”
Kallam stated that contrary to his statement, the witness statement provided by the CBI to the court had a version which stated, “An attendant came into the meeting room at around 5:30 am and informed YS Jagan Mohan Reddy that his spouse was calling him upstairs and that he went out of the meeting room in response to that message. The statement then recorded as if I had stated that he came back to the room after about ten minutes and informed us that his uncle (chinanna) was no more.”
The CBI chargesheet has accused Kadapa MP Avinash Reddy and his father Bhaskar Reddy and others in the murder of Vivekananda Reddy, saying the father-son duo were angered by Vivekananda Reddy’s attempt to bring in Jagan’s mother and sister as rivals to Avinash. Vivekananda’s body was discovered at 6.15 am on the morning of March 15, 2019, by his family. Ajeya Kallam’s purported statement to the CBI saying that Jagan heard about his uncle’s death at 5.30 am on March 15, much before Vivekananda’s own family discovered the body, is in line with the CBI’s assertion that Avinash Reddy commissioned the murder and kept Jagan informed and this should be investigated for Jagan’s alleged role.
Kallam said that he had not stated anything about Jagan Mohan Reddy being called for by his spouse and that what he had stated had not been recorded accurately by the CBI and the version recorded by the CBI was entirely false and had the tendency to prejudice the investigation and falsely implicate several individuals. He also pointed out that the person who took his statement was different from the one whose signature appeared on the statement filed by the CBI. He sought the court’s direction to the respondents not to rely on the statement as provided by the CBI.
After retiring as Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh in March 2017, Kallam joined the YSRCP manifesto committee in January 2019, ahead of the general elections.