Anantapur: The Paritala Ravindra murder case may be a decade old, but it remains a weapon in the hands of political parties in the state.
Even after the verdict was pronounced in the sensational murder case of Anantapur warlord, and after prime convict, Maddelacheruvu Suri alias Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy, and his aide and gunman, A2 - Moddu Sreenu, were killed in different incidents, the incident comes in handy for TD and other parties in the state as a tool to use to blame rival leaders.
The TD wanted the case reopened as it felt that the CBI was influenced by then chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and the direct involvement of his son Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, but did not make efforts in this direction during two years of being in power.
The CBI investigated the case at the behest of then chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy following allegations that his son, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and then minister J.C. Diwakar Reddy were involved, but both were exonerated.
In its report, the CBI concluded that rivalry between the families of Paritala and Maddelacheruvu Suri led to the murder and that Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy hatched a conspiracy while he was serving a jail term in the Jubilee Hills bomb blast case. J. Srinivas Reddy alias Moddu Srinu, P. Narayana Reddy, and Rekhamaiah shot Ravindra in the party office on January 24, 2005.
After a six-year-long trial in the district sessions cou-rt, Anantapur, eight of the accused -- Narayana Reddy, V. Rekhamiah, Bhajana Ranganayakulu, A. Konda-iah, Vadde Srinivasulu, Medimi Obi Reddy, Tarugu Peddi Reddy and Vanna Hanumantha Reddy - were convicted for murder and awarded a life sentence.
The court acquitted four of the accused - G. Venkatrami Reddy, V. Anand Kum-ar Reddy, Patolla Govardhan Reddy, and B. Venkataswamy alias Ramaswamy - while another, K. Rammohan Reddy, was exonerated after he turned approver before the investigating agency.
Moddu Sreenu was beaten to death at a district prison in Anantapur by inmate Om Prakash in November 2010. Suri was released from prison in December 2009 after he got conditional bail, but gunned down by his close aide Bhanu Kiran.
