Andhra Pradesh government tells Supreme Court it has closed case against slain former MP's daughter, investigating CBI officer

New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday told the Supreme Court it has closed a criminal case filed against the daughter of slain former Congress MP YS Vivekananda Reddy and a CBI official involved in the murder investigation.

Vivekananda, the uncle of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, was found dead at his home in Pulivendula, Kadapa district, in March 2019. The murder case was initially probed by a Special Investigation Team of the state Crime Investigation Department and handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation in July 2020.

On Thursday, a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was apprised by the state government's counsel that police have filed a report in a local court seeking closure of the case.

The bench took note of the submissions and said there was no need to further hear the appeals seeking quashing of the FIR as the closure report has already been filed.

“The special leave petition is dismissed as withdrawn,” the CJI said.

Besides the present pleas, the top court has taken up multiple petitions related to the high profile murder case, including challenges to the bail orders and allegations of witness intimidation.

The CBI filed the chargesheet in the case on October 26, 2021, and followed it up with a supplementary chargesheet on January 31, 2022.

During the YSRCP (Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party) rule, the Andhra Pradesh police filed an FIR against Sunitha Narreddy, Vivekananda Reddy's daughter, and CBI officer Ram Singh on a complaint of his former PA M V Krishna Reddy.

M V Krishna Reddy was being investigated by the CBI in connection with the murder probe.

The FIR was registered following an order of a judicial magistrate who took note M V Krishna Reddy's allegation that he was confined by the CBI officer in a guesthouse of the central prison at Kadapa and was asked to give false evidence at Sunitha Narreddy's behest.

In December 2023, a magistrate in Pulivendula directed the police to register a fresh FIR against Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter and others based on allegations of coercion and torture, leading to the current proceedings.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed the plea of the CBI officer and Sunitha Narreddy to quash the FIR in May 2024, prompting the current appeals in the Supreme Court.

The case has witnessed many twists and turns, starting with the crime which took place weeks before the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections in 2019, raising suspicions of political motives.