The Supreme Court has transferred the murder trial of former AP Minister YS Vivekananda Reddy from Andhra Pradesh to Special CBI Court Hyderabad after the wife and daughter of the deceased raised apprehensions regarding derailment of fair trial.
A bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice MM Sundresh while hearing a petition filed by the daughter of Vivekananda Reddy, Suneetha Narreddy, ordered the transfer of the trial.
It is important to note that Suneetha Narreddy is the the cousin of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy
The wife of Vivekananda Reddy, who was brutally stabbed to death at his residence in Pulivendula, Kadapa district in March 2019, was the co-petitioner in the case.
The bench said that taking into consideration the facts and circumstances, it can be taken that the apprehension on the part of the daughter and wife of the deceased, about the trial not being fair with respect to further investigation on larger conspiracy has substance.
The petitioner being the family of the deceased have a fundamental right to get justice as victim.
The Court agreed that the petitioner have legitimate expectation that the criminal trial is conducted in a fair manner…
The Bench said that the petitioner believes that under the current situation it is best to get case transferred to other state than the State of Andhra Pradesh.
The court said that as the settled position of law, Justice is not only to be done, but also seen to have been done…Free and fair trial is sine qua non of Article 21…If the trial is not free and fair then the judicial system would be at stake affecting the confidence of the public in the system.
The court transferred the case to the CBI Special Court Hyderabad and ordered for
all relevant papers, chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet to be transferred to CBI Court Hyderabad.
The Court has told CBI to complete the further investigation in an independent and unbiased manner.