Brother of former Andhra CM found murdered; SIT formed

Amaravati (AP), March 15

YS Vivekananda Reddy, former minister and younger brother of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister MYS Rajasekhara Reddy, was today found dead at his house in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.

The police initially registered a case under Section 174 of the CrPC (unnatural death) when Reddy’s body was found by his staff early this morning. After a post-mortem, the police said the case was altered to Section 302 (murder) of the IPC.

His party, the YSR Congress, demanded a CBI probe into the case even as the Andhra Pradesh Government constituted a Special Investigation Team, headed by CID Additional Director General of Police Amit Garg, to probe the death.

This was the third unnatural death in the YS family that has a powerful political hold in Kadapa district.

While the father YS Raja Reddy was murdered in 1998, the eldest son MYS Rajasekhara Reddy was killed in a helicopter crash in 2009. Vivekananda Reddy was a two-time MLA, two-time MP and a one-term MLC.

He served as agriculture minister in the N Kiran Kumar Reddy government in united Andhra Pradesh. The 68-year-old YSR Congress leader is survived by his wife and a daughter.

The police said the body bore injury marks. “We have gathered some clues and fingerprints from the spot,” Kadapa District Superintendent of Police Rahul Dev Sharma said. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu recalled Vivekananda’s services as a public representative. — PTI

3rd unnatural death in family

• YS Vivekananda Reddy’s was the third unnatural death in the YS family that has a powerful political hold in Kadapa
• While the father YS Raja Reddy was murdered in 1998, the eldest son MYS Rajasekhara Reddy was killed in a helicopter crash in 2009