Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri, who was admitted in Apollo hospital with bullet injury in the evening, was dead in the night on Monday, Jan 3. Highly placed sources informed that Suri's close associate killed him.
Suri, whose factional violent life inspired the film Rakta Charitra, was allegedly killed by his aide Bhanu Kiran who was also present in Suri's car.
Earlier reports stated that after a meeting with his lawyer, Suri was attacked by three unidentified goons. But recent information revealed a different story.
Read: Gangsters attack Maddelacheruvu Suri
According the police sources, three persons were inside the car when the incident happened. Apart from Suri, his associates Madhumohan Reddy and Bhanu Kiran accompanied Suri.
Bhanu allegedly shot Suri and went out from the car and the other aide took Suri to the hospital with bullet wounds in the head, chest and stomach.
Police suspected that political and settlement deals could be reasons for the cold-blooded murder.
Suri was an accused in the 2005 assassination of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator and his rival in faction feud, Paritala Ravindra.
Suri's prophecy after surrendering in 1997 Jubilee Hills bomb blast which claimed 26 lives, turned into a real fact as he claimed once, "I know I will end up on a post-mortem table one day."
In 1995, a TV bomb was exploded in Suri's house killing his family members. Suri believed Paritala Ravi was the brain behind the TV bomb and wanted to avenge the killings.
In 2009, Suri got conditional bail in the murder case of Paritala Ravi.
HYDERABAD: Rayalaseema faction warlord Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy alias Maddelachervu Suri, the prime accused in the murder of TDP leader Paritala Ravi, was shot dead by his close aide here on Monday evening. Police suspect political and settlement deals could be reasons for the cold-blooded murder.
The 39-year-old Suri left his flat (No 71 at L&T infra County Apartment) in Madhapur at around 3.40 pm in a Scoda Fabia (AP 28 DF 1248) and went to meet his advocate in Sanatnagar. At about 5 pm, he left the lawyer's place and was on the way to his cousin's residence on Road Number 13 in Jubilee Hills, when an aide, Bhanu Kiran, also travelling in the car, opened fire from point-blank range near Navodaya Colony. The faction leader collapsed in the co-driver's seat. The assailant, sources said, cooly stepped out of the car and walked away. Another aide and driver Madhumohan Reddy rushed a heavily-bleeding Suri to a hospital in Jubilee Hills, where he was declared dead at 7.55 pm.
According to police, three persons were inside the car when the incident happened. Apart from Suri, his associates Madhumohan Reddy and Bhanu Kiran were also present in the vehicle.
While Madhu was driving the car, Suri sat in the front seat and Bhanu in the rear seat.
When the car reached Ganesh Complex at Navodaya Colony in Yousufguda, Bhanu pulled out his weapon and shot Suri.
With bullet wounds in the head, Suri collapsed in his seat. Bhanu then threatened Madhu to stop the vehicle and got down from the vehicle. Madhu immediately drove the vehicle to Apollo hospitals at Jubilee Hills.
Police were immediately alerted about the incident and at about 7.30 pm, Task Force sleuths took Bhanu into custody and began grilling him at a location in Kukatpally. According to sources, Bhanu confessed to the crime and told police that a dispute over sharing of money gained in a property settlement was the reason for killing the notorious factionist.
The sources said Suri and Bhanu were involved in property disputes between two sons of an industrialist from Vijayawada.
The Vijayawada police reportedly warned Bhanu, when one of the sons of the industrialist lodged a complaint regarding involvement of goons.
Suri had also reportedly made crores of rupees by selling a recent bilingual film made by a popular director. Unlike in Bhanu's case, he gave a decent share to one of his associates, belonging to his own community. This incident reportedly intensified friction between the two.
Police have not yet given a clean chit to Madhu and suspect that another possible motive for elimination of Suri could be benami properties in the name of Bhanu and Madhu.
According to estimates, Suri might have invested close to Rs 200 crore worth assets in benami accounts and a few major share holders could be Bhanu and Madhu.
Like Suri, both Bhanu Kiran, 36, and Madhu also hail from Anantapur district and have been his close associates since 2002.
According to a statement issued by Apollo Hospitals, Suri was brought to the hospital at 5.45 pm with bleeding injuries from the posterior part of the scalp. He was unconscious, had no pulse and was not breathing. "He was immediately resuscitated by a team of doctors and CT scan showed bullet injuries in the brain. His condition never improved despite best efforts and at 7.50 pm, he suffered a massive cardiac arrest and could not be revived. He was declared dead at 7.55 pm," the release added.
Hyderabad police commissioner A K Khan, who visited Apollo Hospital, told the media that as per the driver's version 'somebody' fired from the rear seat of the car. He clarified that there was no scope for firing from outside the vehicle as the driver also said that firing was from behind the seat on which Suri was sitting.
