HYDERABAD: A local court on Friday remanded Rajesh Ajjakolu, the prime accused in the sensational Manda Surender Reddy murder case, to judicial custody.
The Nagarkurnool police had taken Rajesh into custody after he was discharged from a private hospital. He was admitted to the hospital for facial burns sustained in his attempt to replace himself with M. Surender Reddy, husband of Manda Swathi, the co-accused in the case.
Mr Laxmi Narayana, deputy superintendent of police, Nagarkurnool, said that on November 26, Swathi sent her children to her parents’ place. In the afternoon, she called in Rajesh and hatched the plan to kill M. Sudhakar Reddy at night.
However, Sudhakar Reddy raised an alarm and Rajesh fled away from the house. “Swathi found that Sudhakar Reddy had sustained injuries and asked his relative, Ashok, to take him to a hospital. Ashok stayed at their house the whole night to take care of Sudhakar Reddy and left in the morning,” the DSP said.
The next morning, Rajesh came to the house and injected anaesthesia while Sudhakar Reddy was asleep. Later, Rajesh and Swathi attacked the victim with an iron rod, resulting in his death. They then shifted the body in a car to a forest area and set it ablaze, the official explained.
As per the plan, while returning back, the duo bought petrol and poured it on a scarf. After lighting fire, Rajesh kept the burnt scarf on his face. Later, he lighted a stove in the house and kept his face over the flames, Rajesh told the police.
Later, Rajesh was admitted in a private hospital for treatment, pretending to be Sudhakar Reddy. However, he was caught when the family members of Sudhakar Reddy got suspicious, resulting in the arrest of Swathi on December 10 and Rajesh on Friday.
