PNS|Vijayawada
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the change of the investigating officer (IO) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the grounds that he had failed to speed up the probe into the murder of former minister and former MP YS Vivekananda Reddy.
The Apex Court bench headed by Justice MR Shah stated that the status report submitted by the CBI on the progress of the investigation into the Vivekananda murder case revealed that there has been absolutely no progress in the case. The bench ordered that the CBI officer Ram Singh, who has been investigating the case, be immediately shifted, and the probe be entrusted to another officer.
Interestingly, Devireddy Tulasamma, the wife of one of the accused, Devidreddy Shiv Shankar Reddy, filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday, asking for a change in the investigating officer, who she alleged has been harassing the accused and forcing them to give a witness against Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy. The Apex Court bench wondered how long the case would drag on.
The judge felt that “The status report of the CBI says the murder took place due to political rivalry, but we feel there is a large-scale conspiracy behind the murder. The CBI has not taken this into consideration.” He said there should be some logical end to any case. He said that the CBI has been repeating the same old things in its reports which are not correct and there is no question of granting bail to any of the accused.
Refusing to go into the merits of the case, the judge said the CBI’s charge that the murder had political nature alone was not enough to convict the accused. The CBI needs to speed up the investigation, he said, and posted the case to April 10.
