The killing of Paritala Ravi is part of an unending saga of revenge involving two families belonging to rival factions and different castes. Dozens of innocent and not-so-innocent lives have been lost in this rivalry.
A 1998 report prepared by the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee on Paritala Ravi, a former naxalite, says: "The entire district kneels down before him. Everyone is afraid of him. From 1994, even the political scenario (in Anantapur district) has undergone a change". Paritala Ravi's name was linked by the Anantapur police to numerous murders, including that of Saane Chenna Reddy, an MLA from Penukonda, and Ramana Reddy, a former MLA.
According to police records, an attempt was made in October 1993 to kill Maddelacheruvu Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri, a faction leader from Anantapur, through a sophisticated method. A portable television set loaded with explosives was delivered at his house while he was away. Unsuspecting members of his family switched on the television. The explosion that resulted brought down a portion of the house, and killed five persons, and injured four others. Paritala Ravi was named Accused No.1 in the case.
Suri tried to take vengeance by triggering off a remote-controlled car bomb in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, in 1997 but missed his target, Paritala Ravi, who was then producing a movie called Sriramulaiah based on his father's struggle against landlords. (Ramulaiah was hacked to death allegedly by Suri's father, Gangula Narayana Reddy, who was killed in retaliation in 1983. Ravi was the prime accused in that case too.) Twenty-six others, including six members of a television crew, were killed. Suri and six others were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The TDP was quick to accuse Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's son Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Panchayati Raj Minister J.C. Diwakar Reddy, and a senior police officer in the Rayalaseema region of conspiring to kill Ravi.Suri, who is serving a life sentence in the Cherlapalli jail in Hyderabad, could apparently call the shots from the confines of his cell using a mobile phone.
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