Hyderabad: The CID court here on Tuesday convicted Bhanu Kiran, principal accused in the murder of gangster Gangula Suranarayana Reddy alias Maddelachervu Suri, and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment. The court also convicted and imposed five year jail sentence to second accused in the case Manmohan Singh Bhadauria and acquitted the remaining four accused due to lack of evidence.
The deceased was shot dead in a car at Yousufguda area in the city and created a flutter in then undivided AP State. Bhanu Kiron, an aide of Suri, shot him dead while they were returning home after meeting a lawyer on January 3, 2011. He killed Suri following differences over some financial matters. Suri, a Congress leader, involved in several criminal cases in the faction-ridden Anantapur district, was key accused in the killing of Paritala Ravi, who was gunned down in Anantapur town January 24, 2005.
Prime accused Bhanu Kiran has been in jail since the last six-and-a-half years after the murder of Suri at the Chanchalguda Central jail. Second accused Manmohan was also in the jail since the last eight years. Other accused Vamsidhar, Venkataramana, Subbaiah and Hari were acquitted as the prosecution failed to bring home the guilt of the accused.
The sensational murder case was investigated by the CID sleuths, who examined and recorded statements of 93 witnesses. Suri was murdered on January 4, 2011 in Yousufguda basti allegedly by Bhanu Kiran with the help of a countrymade pistol. He was the close aide of Suri, who was prime accused in TDP leader Paritala Ravi murder case. Bhanu Kiran had escaped from the scene of offence after murdering Suri, but was caught at a dhaba hotel on April 21, 2012. The police seized one revolver, three cell phones and a couple of ATM cards from his possession. The factional rivalry between the families of Paritala Ravi and Maddelachervu Suri had hit the national headlines in 2010 following the release of “Rakta Charitra”, a multilingual film produced by Ram Gopal Varma.
Reacting to the judgment, Suri’s wife Bhanumati said Bhanu Kiran should have been sentenced to death. She said Bhanu Kiron had taken Rs 1 crore from Suri’s enemies to kill him.
[source_without_link]NSS[/source_without_link]