19th november ---jubilee hills bomb blast

[pavanyakkala]

                                      [shadow=red,left] Facts beyond investigation[/shadow]
                                  (The Jubilee Hills Car Bomb Case)
                                                                - P Hari Kumar, SP, Intelligence, Hyderabad
       
Usually, in the investigation of major and sensational cases, there is a large gap between the efforts done on the field and the facts reflected in the documents in order to put them in a legal frame. The Jubilee Hills Car Bomb Blast Case is not an exception. The efforts of the field officers who put in hard work in unravelling the truth and in apprehension of most of the accused arrested in the case did not find mention in the final analysis of the case.
On 19.11.1997 at about 11.50 hrs there was a Car Bomb Explosion near Rama Naidu’s Cine Studio, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad resulting in the death of 25 innocent people and injuries to several other persons. The case was registered as 237/97 in Jubilee Hills Police Station. It was a Criminal conspiracy hatched to kill Sri.P.Ravindra, MLA by Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy and others for political reasons and due to existing ill feelings between the families of P.Ravindra and G.Suryanarayana Reddy.,
In this case, 14 accused were arrested out of 21 accused cited in the Charge Sheet. Trial was conducted against 14 accused while the case was split up against remaining 7 accused who could not be apprehended. Prosecution secured conviction against 6 of the accused, while 8 of the accused were acquitted.
Accused Pavan Kumar, who had operated the remote control to blast the Car, was convicted to life, while the other accused including G.Suryanarayana Reddy (A1) were sentenced to 14 years R.I. In appeal before the High Court of A.P. the sentence of 14 years R.I. was enhanced to life imprisonment. In this case prosecution examined 234 witnesses, exhibited 216 documents and seized 80 material objects.
Soon after the case occurred and was reported at Jubilee Hills, the news spread far and wide and became sensational in two aspects. Firstly, it was an attempt on the life of a sitting MLA by making use of electronic gadgets resulting in a number of casualties and secondly, it happened in the heart of Hyderabad City. Owing to the uniqueness of the case it was immediately transferred to C.I.D for investigation.
As it was believed that the accused might have hailed from Anantapur Dist, the Superintendent of Police, Anantapur was asked to work out clues in this case. Immediately, he called PCs, S.Is and Inspectors who had dealt with the investigation of faction related cases of Anantapur Dist to HQs and convened a meeting and soon chalked out the plan. He identified certain S.I’s and Inspectors who were good in fieldwork and capable of procuring information in the cases of faction fights. He divided the police personnel into four teams, defining their area of operation and the role to be played by each team. While himself being at HQs at Anantapur to brief the developments of the case from time to time to Hyderabad to different agencies, he deputed myself, who was the Addl. Superintendent of Police, to Dharmavaram and instructed me to camp there to coordinate work among the teams as Dharmavaram was regarded as the centre of activity for the factionists involved in this case.
After two to three days of relentless efforts of the teams, results in this case started pouring in. The party consisting of S.I. Srinivasulu and Gangaiah came with the information that one Gotluru Vasudeva Reddy aged 20 yrs, of Dharmavaram area was doing a Computer course at Bangalore while residing with G.Suryanarayana Reddy and his family. They came to know that Vasudeva Reddy was lured by G.Suryanarayana Reddy who involved him in the criminal conspiracy with a view to
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fight against P.Ravindra by indoctrinating him with faction politics. S.I’s proceeded to Nandyal of Kurnool Dist on the information that Vasudeva Reddy was staying in his sister’s house situated at Sanjeeva Nagar, Nandyal Town, after the commission of the offence at Hyderabad. When the Police party caused enquiries, they came to know through his sister after taking her into confidence that Vasudeva Reddy had gone to Shard along with his friend Chandra Shekhar of Hyderabad. As she did not know the address of Chandra Shekhar at Hyderabad, she revealed the address of Chandra Shekhar’s mother Smt.Ananthamma at Ramachandra Nagar, Anantapur in order. The party informed the address to the Superintendent of Police. The Superintendent of Police instructed the other team functioning under C.I., Anantapur I Town, to gather the correct address of Smt.Ananthamma at Ramachandra Nagar, Anantapur and also ascertain information about Chandra Shekhar at Hyderabad. Owing to the efforts of C.I. Anantapur I Town and through the sources of SP Ananthapur, the address of Chandra Shekhar was found out through the mother of Chandra Shekhar, Smt.Ananthamma. The address was found out to be Door No.8-03-977/6, Srinagar Colony, Hyderabad. The address was conveyed to the Special party stationed at Nandyal and they were instructed to proceed to Hyderabad to locate the whereabouts of Vasudeva Reddy. The special party exhibited professionalism and apprehended Vasudeva Reddy in the house of Chandra Shekhar and the same was informed to the DGP on the same day. Immediately, on his instructions, the accused was handed over to the officers of the CID. On his interrogation, he revealed the complicity of the co-accused in this case and it was confirmed then that G.Suryanarayana Reddy was the prime accused and Pyadindi Laxmireddy of Pyadindi Village, C.K.pally Mandal, V.Prabhakara Reddy of Nagaluru Village of Penugonda Mandal, Kummmari Nagaraju of Venkatampally Village, Dasireddy of Elakuntla Village, Ananda Reddy of Guttapally Village, Prakash Reddy, Chandrasekhar Reddy, Rajasekhar Reddy of Topudurthy Village and Siva Prasada Reddy of Anantapur were the main persons who had participated and co-operated in the offence. The names of the main persons who were responsible for the commission of the offence came to light only after nabbing of Vasudeva Reddy by the Special party of Anantapur Dist.
On the information given by Vasudevareddy and the independent leads acquired by the special party, Prakash Reddy and Siva Prasada Reddy were apprehended by Anantapur Dist Police and sent to Hyderabad for further interrogation.
Soon, the Special Party that picked up Prakash Reddy gave information that the Contessa Car belonging to Suryanarayana Reddy was parked at Anil’s Garage, by-pass road Anantapur and also informed that the wife of G.Suryanayana Reddy, Smt.Bhanumathi was hiding at Indukuru Village. The Anantapur II Town Inspector Sri.Balagurappa, conducted raid on Anil Garage and seized the Contessa car and also proceeded to Indukur village to locate Smt.Bhanumathi in the village. Soon, he located Smt.Bhanumathi and requested her to co-operate in this case. Meanwhile, the SP came to know about one Niranjan Reddy of Narpala, who knew the whereabouts of G.Suryanarayana Reddy during that time. He sent C.I. Anantapur II Town to Goa along with Niranjan reddy to apprehend G.Suryanarayana Reddy. Minutes before C.I. Anantapur II Town reached the place where G.Suryanarayana Reddy was staying; he vacated the place and surrendered before Chitradurga Police on 6.12.1997 by using his earlier connections. Suryanarayana Reddy did this due to his continuous chase by Anantapur Police and the fact that they had established contact with his wife who had been in hiding.
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Another Special Party, consisting of C.I. Sankaraiah and S.I. Narsingappa, having got clues, went to Chintamani and arrested one of the main accused R.Ananda Reddy and subsequently handed to the officers of CID.
On the information furnished by me, S.Is.Sri.A.Srinivasulu and Sri.Gangaiah proceeded to Punganoor to apprehend one of the main accused S.Pavan Kumar. The special party made efforts and took into custody the brother in law of S.Pavan Kumar and questioned him to know the whereabouts of his brother in law. Pavan Kumar sensing the noose around his neck, surrendered before COD Bangalore on 07.12.1997.
Another Special Party under the leader ship of C.I. Ramgiri, Sri.Narasimhulu, on the information furnished by me, proceeded to Venkatampally Village, near Dhone and arrested Kummari Nagaraju and later handed over to CID, Hyderabad.
The Special party of C.I.Shankaraiah collected clues about Pyadindi Laxmi Reddy that he was taking shelter at Mudigubba in his relative’s house. When he conducted search on the house, he escaped and surrendered before the officers of C.I.D, Hyderabad.
Thus, the accused G.Vasudevareddy (A4), R.Ananda Reddy(A6), Kummari Nagaraju(A9), T.Prakashreddy(A13), T.Chandrasekhar Reddy(A14), Tagarikunta Siva Prasada Reddy(A16) were apprehended by Anantapur Police and handed over to CID., Similarly, the accused G.Suryanarayana Reddy(A1), N.Dasireddy(A2), S.Pavan Kumar(A11) and M.Laxmireddy(A17)surrendered before Karnataka Police and CID, Hyderabad due to the relentless efforts of Anantapur Police .
In spite of the threats to the life of some of the members of the special party, they continued their efforts to apprehend the accused. The accused intimidated and threatened to do away with their lives, as the members of the party were making ‘unnecessary’ efforts in chasing the accused, as the case was neither being investigated by Anantapur Police nor it had happened in Anantapur Dist.
Teams rendered valuable assistance to the investigating teams of C.I.D in pursuing the clues and in locating the accused involved in this case. Their cooperation, dedication, commitment, zeal and perseverance in pursuing the leads in unravelling the mystery of the case need appreciation.
Editor: Investigation of any major case involving conspiracy necessarily requires extensive field investigation to supplement the documentation. Leading the police teams of Anantapur who cracked this case remains one of the most satisfying points in my career. However, we failed in getting the district officers their due. Out of more than fifty rewardees who secured the IPM, advanced increments, MSEs, cash rewards and the prize of 5 lakhs announced by the Government, the above officers who actually did the field work managed to secure 2 GSEs and 6 cash rewards amounting to Rs 280/- !