Thursday 26 April 2012

Calls grow for probe against Jagan after his close aide is convicted in attempt to murder case

                                                                
An Anantapur court in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday sentenced Dantuluri Krishna, alias Mangali Krishna, a close follower of YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, to five years imprisonment in connection with a conspiracy to kill former Telugu Desam Party MLA Paritala Ravindra in 2001.
Along with Krishna, three others -- Ramachandra Reddy, Madhusudhan Reddy and Sudheer Reddy -- were also sentenced to five years imprisonment for plotting to eliminate Paritala by planting a suitcase bomb.
The additional sessions court of Anantapur district quashed the case against another six persons who were also accused in the case. The police arrested Krishna even before the pronouncement of the judgment as per the court orders.
Although the bomb plot failed, Paritala was later shot dead in broad daylight in Anantapur on January 24, 2005, as a result of a faction feud with a dreaded Rayalaseema gangster Gangula Suryanarayana, alias Maddelacheruvu Suri. The faction killings between Paritala and Suri gangs were the central theme of noted film maker Ram Gopal Varma's bilingual movie 'Rakth Charita' made a couple of years ago.
In fact, the CBI had included the name of Jaganmohan Reddy as one of the accused in the FIR while investigating the murder of Paritala. Mail Today carried a report on January 31, 2011, about an internal document of the CBI that revealed the alleged nexus between Jagan and the killers of Paritala.
According to the information gathered by the CBI, Mangali Krishna was the neighbour and front-man of Jaganmohan Reddy in his native town of Pulivendula. At present, he is actively involved in YSR Congress party activities in Pulivendula.
The CBI document further states that Jagan wanted to take revenge against a local Telugu Desam Party leader Parthasarathy Reddy for allegedly killing his grandfather Y S Raja Reddy in May, 1998. Jagan, the CBI document said, took the help of Krishna to eliminate Parthasarathy Reddy.
Krishna, in turn, contacted Suri and his associates to execute the killing. Suri, who was already engaged in a gang war with Paritala, had struck a bargain with Krishna to eliminate Paritala first and then Parthasarathy Reddy. Krishna had extended all financial help to Suri team with the blessings of Jagan, the CBI document said.
In March 2001, Suri's gang planted a suitcase bomb in Dharmavaram in Anantapur district to eliminate Paritala Ravindra, but they could not execute the explosion as he dropped his plan to visit Dharmavaram at the last moment. The police defused the bomb later. Five persons, including Mangali Krishna, were arrested in connection with the suitcase bomb case. Krishna was later released on bail.
After Paritala's murder, the CBI had summoned Mangali Krishna for interrogation again but could not find a link. The TDP leaders alleged that the then chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had influenced the investigation agency to ensure that Jagan's name did not figure in the charge sheet. Ultimately, the CBI had given a clean chit to Jagan.
Interestingly, Mangali Krishna's name surfaced again in connection with the murder of Suri on January 3, 2011. Suri was shot dead by allegedly his own follower Bhanu Kiran on January 3 in Hyderabad. After 15 months, the Andhra CID police managed to arrest Bhanu four days ago. During interrogation, Bhanu confessed that he had done real estate dealings along with Mangali Krishna in Hyderabad and that the latter had given him the weapon to eliminate Suri.
TDP leader Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu has alleged that Mangali Krishna was the close aide of Jaganmohan Reddy and demanded that the police should reopen the case of Paritala's murder.
Krishna, however, denied the allegations against him. "There is absolutely no evidence with the police about my involvement. Obviously, it is an attempt by the big people in the ruling party who are trying to target me. I am confident that I will come out clean," he told the media in Anantapur.
from india today

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