ANDHRA PRADESH: Ex-CI Sues AP CM Naidu for Defamation
Legal Confrontation
Former Pulivendula Circle Inspector J. Shankaraiah has issued legal notices to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, alleging reputational harm through recurrent defamatory assertions in the YS Vivekananda Reddy murder investigation.
Dispatched on September 18, 2025, via advocate G. Dharaneswara Reddy, the notices surfaced publicly on September 24.
Shankaraiah demands a formal legislative apology and ₹1.45 crore in damages for the purported malice-driven falsehoods.
Alleged Misrepresentations
Naidu has persistently claimed that accused individuals obliterated evidence, including bloodstains, under Shankaraiah’s purported oversight at the 2019 crime scene.
These imputations, voiced in public forums, ostensibly portray Shankaraiah as complicit in investigative dereliction.
The notices contend such narratives constitute deliberate character assassination, warranting rectification and redress.
Shankaraiah’s Professional Profile
As Pulivendula’s jurisdictional officer during Vivekananda Reddy’s fatal assault in March 2019, Shankaraiah faced immediate suspension for alleged duty lapses by the contemporaneous administration.
He is presently assigned to vacancy reserve duties within Kurnool Range.
Early disclosures to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) implicated Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy and associate Devireddy Sivashankar Reddy in coercive interference, deterring case registration and postmortem proceedings.
Investigative Vicissitudes
Shankaraiah’s initial averments, which highlighted threats and bodily injuries, were not reaffirmed before the magistrate, attributed to scheduling conflicts.
The subsequent YSR Congress Party regime reinstated him within a week, on October 6, 2021.
CBI submissions to judicial forums later posited external pressures from the accused as influencing his recantation, complicating the probe’s trajectory.
Case Backdrop
The homicide of former minister Vivekananda Reddy, brother to ex-Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, precipitated political acrimony, with the CBI assuming jurisdiction in 2020 per Andhra Pradesh High Court directives.
Petitioner Suneetha Reddy, the deceased’s daughter, flagged familial suspicions.
The episode underscores entrenched partisan frictions in Andhra Pradesh’s forensic and administrative spheres.
Procedural Outlook
The notices isolate Naidu as the sole respondent, spotlighting executive accountability amid ongoing litigation.
Judicial precedents on default bail and witness vulnerabilities persist as ancillary concerns.
This development may catalyze renewed scrutiny of the protracted inquiry.