Hyderabad: Bhanu Kiran, prime accused in the murder of Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy alias Maddelachervu Suri, has been running an extortion racket and communicating with his gang from the Cherlapally Central Prison with the support of a prison official.
The Nalgonda CCS team found that Kiran was using the personal mobile phone of a deputy superintendent of prisons.
The issue came into light when the Nalgonda CCS team verified call data records of one Burjukadi Vijay Kumar alias Vishnu, who was arrested in January 2015 for conspiring to murder a businessman at Miryalaguda.
The CCS team found Vishnu had been receiving calls frequently from the deputy superintendent of prisons’ mobile. Vishnu confessed that Kiran had been calling him from that number. Call records show that before planning the murder on hire, Vishnu had been in touch with Kiran over the cell phone. On January 3, 2015, Vishnu had called the DSP’s number to speak with Bhanu at 3.42 pm. The same day, he had received calls from Bhanu at 5.44 pm, 5.51 pm, 6.12 pm and 6.43 pm.
The two were in touch thanks to the cell phone till Vishnu and his gang were nabbed by the Nalgonda CCS team on January 13, 2015.
Surprisingly, when Kiran was brought to the Nampally court, the CDR’s cell tower data showed that the phone too was at Nampally and that it had travelled along other towers on the way from Cherlapally Central Prison. Nalgonda SP Vikramjeet Duggal told DC that he would give a clarification when the time came.
Hyderabad joint commissioner of police (crimes) T. Prabhakar Rao, who headed the Nalgonda police last year, told this newspaper that CCS had nabbed the gang of hired murderers, including Vishnu, at Miryalaguda and that he was a close associate of Kiran. “Nalgonda CCS was dealing with the case at that time and they obtained call data records of all the seven mobile phones seized during the arrest of the accused persons for further investigation,” he said.
Vijay or Vishnu
Burjukadi Vijay Kumar alias Vishnu was a factionist a decade back at his native village Abhangapur of Narayanpet mandal in Mahbubnagar district.
He joined a faction in order to settle an issue over his agricultural land. Initially, he took the assistance of late Patolla Govardhan Reddy of the Revolutionary Patriotic Tigers, and later joined his gang.
He was involved in attempt to murder and kidnap cases. He was caught by the Hyderabad Task Force in 2009 while conspiring to abduct a businessman along with Govardhan Reddy’s brother Patolla Sudharshan Reddy. After he came to know that Govardhan Reddy had sheltered his rival, Vishnu moved away and later got associated with Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy.
Gang Arrested
Burjukadi Vijay Kumar alias Vishnu and his gang was nabbed on January 13, 2015, during a vehicle check held by the Nalgonda CCS team at Miryalaguda.
The police seized a revolver, a van, a car, two deadly weapons, two packets of chilli powder, '1.5 lakh cash and seven cellphones from their possession. Apart from Vishnu, the police arrested Mahender and Kasarla Raju of Ranga Reddy district and Guntuka Ramesh from Warangal district.
The four had been hired by N. Peddireddy, N. Madhukar Reddy and Utkuri Venkat Reddy from Nalgonda district to eliminate their business rival Gopal Reddy of Miryalaguda.
The deal was worth '10 lakh and they had paid '3.2 lakh as advance.
Bhanu had killed his own ‘master’
Bhanu Kiran, who was a close associate of Suri, killed the latter in January 2011 at Yousufguda and escaped from the city.
He was caught by the CID police in April 22, 2012 and was initially lodged in Chanchalguda Central Prison as an undertrial and later shifted to the Cherlapally Central Prison due to renovation works in the Chanchalguda jail.
There had been several allegations about Kiran having access to cellphones in prison.
On May 2, 2014, the then prisons DG, T. Krishna Raju, had caught him red-handed during a surprise check at Cherlapally jail.
Later, Kiran was shifted to Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad and after bifurcation of the state, he was again sent back to the Cherlapally prison.
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