Amaravati, Jul 18 (IANS): Four months after the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the sensational killing of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's uncle and former minister and MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, the central agency has begun the probe.

A seven-member CBI team on Saturday met Kadapa district Superintendent of Police K.K.N. Anburajan and gathered details about Vivekananda Reddy's murder, which occurred on March 15, 2019.

Observing that there is no progress in the investigation even after nearly a year, the high court on March 11 had directed that the case be investigated by the CBI.

The court gave the direction on petitions filed by Vivekananda Reddy's daughter N. Suneetha Reddy, her husband and others.

The former state minister and MP was found murdered at his residence in Kadapa on March 15, 2019, a few days before the election.

The 68-year-old leader was alone at his house when unidentified persons barged in and killed him. He was killed hours before he was to launch YSR Congress Party's election campaign in Kadapa.

Though three Special Investigation Teams (SITs) conducted the probe, they failed to solve the mystery.

Suneetha Reddy has expressed suspicion over the conduct of her cousin and Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy and his father Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy.

In her petition filed in November, she said the shifting of police officials investigating the case and the slow pace at which the probe was being carried out also gave rise to suspicion.

She had wondered why Jagan Mohan Reddy did not hand over the case to the CBI, though as the then leader of opposition, he had raised the demand and submitted a memorandum to the Governor.

Suneetha Reddy also questioned the wisdom of the Chief Minister in constituting another SIT to investigate the crime. The petitioner alleged that the SIT ended up interrupting the investigation and its conduct gave rise to several doubts about the intentions of the state police in implicating innocent people in the case, so as to allow the real culprits to go scot-free.