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Hyderabad, Telangana, India
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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

ACP denies driving Congress man to suicide

ACP P Radhakishan
Congress leader Yamjala Sridhar Reddy, who committed suicide on Saturday, had reportedly approached the Uppal police a week ago and complained that a police official was harassing him by demanding bribe in connection with a murder case. However, Uppal inspector Laxmikanth Reddy had asked him to give the complaint in writing, which Reddy chose not to give. The official in question, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Malkajgiri, P Radhakishan Rao, however, denied driving Sridhar to suicide. In his suicide note, Sridhar Reddy had accused the ACP of demanding a bribe of `10 lakh in connection with two cases. One of Congress leader M Jagadishswar Reddy’s murder and the other of an attempted murder against the slain man’s brother Parameswar Reddy. Sridhar was the main accused in both cases. Speaking to Express, ACP P Radhakishan Rao termed the bribery allegations baseless. He said he had met Sridhar twice, once when the Congress leader was arrested on June 12 and earlier, when he was an inspector of Special Branch when he arrested Sridhar with six others for their alleged involvement in the murder case of Jagadishwar Reddy. With the trial in Jagadishwar Reddy’s murder case beginning on July 8 in a local court, the victim might have feared judicial examination as the police submitted evidence to the court, the ACP said. “If I had demanded bribe or threatened him, why did he fail to bring the issue to the notice of my higher ups? The police also arrested him this month and produced him before the court. Why did he not tell the magistrate if I harassed him or demanded bribe?” the ACP wondered, adding that Sridhar might have nursed a grudge against him after he submitted strong evidence in Jagadishwar Reddy’s murder case. “Even as police registered cases against me in connection with the victim’s suicide, the probe team will look into the issue and bring out the facts,” he said. ACP Radhakishan was the Investigation officer of Jagadishwar Reddy’s murder case when he was inspector, Special branch, Cyberabad. He investigated the murder case and submitted charge-sheet to the court in 2007. When S Prabhakar Reddy was Police Commissioner, he handed over the case to Mutyam Reddy. As serious allegations against Mutyam Reddy poured in, the Police Commissioner appointed Radhakishan as investigation officer who finished the probe in two months. Meanwhile, the Special Operation Team (SOT) has taken over the case and K Dronacharyulu, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Counter-Intelligence Cell (CIC), Cyberabad would start the investigation questioning the family members of the victim and police officials on Monday.

Flashback

May 23, 2007: The accused who came on a bike chased the vehicle of  Ranga Reddy district Congress leader M Jagadishwar Reddy, 38, and stabbed him to death in Uppal. The victim was returning to his house in Uppal from Ramanthapur in a car when two unidentified persons riding a bike came from behind and stopped the vehicle. Soon after the victim got down, the duo stabbed him. The victim’s family members, in their complaint to the police, accused Sridhar Reddy and his followers of master-minding the murder. June 2, 2007: The Cyberabad police arrested six persons who killed Jagadishwar Reddy. Y Sridhar Reddy of Uppal, also a Congress leader, is alleged to have hired the youngsters for killing Jagadishwar as he feared political threat from the latter. He also allegedly paid `4.5 lakh for the contract killing.

Mouli Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com

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