YSR’s brother found dead in his house, murder suspected; political parties accuse each other  

YS Vivekananda Reddy.

New Delhi: Former minister and YSR Congress leader YS Vivekananda Reddy, 68, was found dead in his native Pulivendula village in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district, on late Thursday night. He was the younger brother of late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and the uncle of the YSR Congress Party chief, YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

Vivekanand Reddy had returned home late on Thursday night after campaigning in his native place. According to his personal assistant, M Krishna Reddy, when he went to his house on Friday morning, Vivekanand did not answer the door. He, along with servant and a cook found the back door of the house open and body of Vivekananda in the bathroom with blood everywhere.

According to the preliminary investigation carried out by the Andhra Pradesh Police, Vivekananda Reddy was initially suspected to have died of heart attack, however, injuries on his head and thighs have indicated foul play and the police suspected it to be a case of murder. The Kadapa Police additional superintendent, B Lakshminarayana, has confirmed that the nature of injuries suggest that the victim could have been attacked with an axe.

The Kadapa Police superintendent, Rahul Dev Sharma, said, “Initially, it was suspected that he died of a heart attack but after visiting the spot we suspect it to be a murder. We have taken a few persons in custody for interrogation.”

The Andhra Pradesh government has ordered constitution of a special investigation team to probe the case. However, the YSR Congress has demanded a CBI probe in the matter.

Parties blame each other

The suspected murder of Vivekananda Reddy less than a month before the elections in Andhra Pradesh has snowballed into major blame game among political parties. The opposition parties YSRCP and Telugu Desam Party are now accusing each other for the murder.

The TDP chief and chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu, while raising allegations against YSRCP, said, “I am not saying they are the culprits. At the crime scene, forensic evidences were destroyed, suspicions are arising on them.”

While accusing the CM, YSRCP vice-president S Vijay Sai Reddy said, “Chandrababu Naidu is a person who believes in murder politics. We believe even today that Naidu and his son are involved in this murder.”

Chandrababu Naidu has refused to hand over the case to the CBI. He said if the case is given to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Centre will “save the opposition”; however, if the case goes to the state police, the “culprits will be caught”.

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