Dr Suneetha Narreddy, daughter of YS Vivekananda Reddy, in a letter addressed to the Andhra Pradesh Election Commissioner has sought an NIA or a CBI probe into her father's murder. She also requested the Commission to issue orders to the Chief Minister of Andhra, N Chandrababu Naidu, to not talk about the issue while campaigning in the poll-bound state.
Former MLA and MP YS Vivekananda Reddy was found murdered in the early hours of March 14, 2019. The investigation is presently being handled by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) who reports to the DGP who in turn reports to the Chief Minister. The police arrested K Parmeshwar Reddy (considered a close aide of YS Vivekananda Reddy), Yerra Gangi Reddy, and Chandrasekhar Reddy. A fourth suspect Devireddy Siva Sankar Reddy (of the Nationalist Socialist Party) has also been taken into custody for his alleged connection to the murder.
Suneetha in her letter to the state EC expressed her fear of the investigation into her father’s murder being compromised at the behest of Andhra Chief Minister, “The SIT has not officially released any findings, yet the Chief Minister is coming up with his version of the findings and drawing conclusions. This tells us that he has been actively involved in the case and the following/giving instructions to his team of officers.”
The YSRCP leader has asked the state EC to instruct the SIT to not release any of their findings until a new investigation team is formed.
“These are election times and the Chief Minister’s highest priority is to win the elections. It is a no brainer that the Chief Minister would influence the report of the investigation for electoral gains,” Suneetha alleged, “We are deeply worried that some innocent persons will be made scapegoats and the real culprits will never be identified. I am sure you (state EC) can see there is a huge conflict of interest.”
Suneetha met with the state EC on Thursday requesting the Commission to stop the Andhra CM from using the death of her father for political mileage.
The Chief Minister has been alleging that Jagan has a hand in his uncle’s death. “If Jagan wins, there will be no security in the state. They killed their own uncle and are now doing drama," Naidu told his supporters on Saturday while campaigning at Vizianagaram.
The family of YS Vivekananda Reddy have also accused that "there is a parallel malicious campaign being orchestrated by the Chief Minister and many other ministers to paint the family and associates of the deceased as the perpetrators.” While the Andhra Chief Minister has time and again accused the family of intentionally clearing up the crime scene, Suneetha in her letter named the Pulivendula circle inspector, Sankaraiah and head constable Ramakrishna Reddy of Simhadripuram of allowing the people who identified the body to mess up the crime scene.