New Delhi/Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Andhra Pradesh High Court order of sentencing 11 accused to life imprisonment in the murder of Y S Raja Reddy, father of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
The accused, all functionaries of the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), were earlier sentenced by the high court on September 29, 2006.
The accused are: Perla Somasekhara Reddy, Perla Sesha Reddy, Perla Ramajaneya Reddy, Perla Ramakrishna Reddy, Annareddy Sambasiva Reddy, Annareddy Srinivasa Reddy, Annareddy Dasireddigari Lakshmi Reddy, Palle Venkatarami Reddy, Vaddarapu Obaiah, Ragipindi Sudhakar Reddy and Poreddy Viswanatha Reddy.
Raja Reddy, 75, was killed in a bomb attack in his native Kadapa district while he was returning to Pulivendula from his farmhouse in a car on May 23, 1998.
One of the accused, Perla Uma Maheswara Reddy, who sustained splinter injuries while attacking Raja Reddy, was hacked to death in retaliation by the followers of Raja Reddy on the same day.
The then TDP government entrusted the case of Raja Reddy's murder to the Crime Branch of Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID), which registered a case against 19 accused, and filed a charge sheet against them in 1999.
S V Satish Kumar Reddy, a suspect in the murder, was excluded from the list of accused. The TDP also fielded him as its candidate against Rajasekhara Reddy in Pulivendula assembly constituency in 2004 elections.
Two accused died during the course of trial. In 2004, first additional sessions judge of Kadapa acquitted all the accused for want of evidence. The Congress government, which came to power the same year, challenged the trial court's order in the high court.
However, three of the accused were acquitted for want of evidence while two more died during the course of trial.
Raja Reddy was a popular leader in Kadapa district in Rayalaseema region, notorious for bloody fights among rival factions backed by the political parties.
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