The Telangana High Court on Thursday dismissed the criminal appeal petition filed by Mallisetty Bhanu Kiran, who had been awarded life imprisonment in the murder of Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy alias Maddelacheruvu Suri, and confirmed the life sentence.
A Division Bench of Justices K. Lakshman and P. Sree Sudha pronounced the verdict after hearing contentions of counsels of the petitioner and the government in the appeal plea filed nearly six years ago. The homicide case of Suri reported in 2011 created ripples and attracted wide attention in the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh. The victim Suri was a life convict in the sensational murder of TDP MLA Paritala Ravindra in 2005 which assured political tinge with ruling and opposition parties trading charges.
Suri came out of prison on remission when he was murdered by Bhanu Kiran, said to be his trusted aide then, in 2011. Investigation into this murder case took several twists and turns and the police had a tough time tracking down the accused Bhanu Kiran. He managed to evade the police for more than a year before being caught on the outskirts of Zaheerabad in 2012.
