Court upholds Bhanu Kiran’s life term in Suri murder case

HYDERABAD: Telangana high court on Thursday upheld the life sentence given by a trial court in Hyderabad to Malisetty Bhanu Kiran for killing Maddelacheruvu Suri of Anantapur district in Jan 2011. Suri was the main accused in the 2005 murder of TDP MLA Paritala Ravi in Anantapur.
A bench of Justice K Lakshman and Justice P Sree Sudha pronounced this order after hearing the criminal appeal filed by Bhanu challenging the trial court order which awarded him life imprisonment in the case.He contended that there was no direct evidence to prove that he killed Suri and that most of the witnesses gave contradictory statements and most of them had turned hostile.

Arguing the case of the state, public prosecutor Palle Nageswara Rao said that Bhanu planned the murder and executed it with dexterity. “He was travelling with Suri in Hyderabad on the day of killing. Other than the driver and Suri, who was sitting in the front seat next to the driver, the only person in the car in the back seat was Bhanu. He shot Suri from behind and the injuries on the right lower side of the head and neck on Suri’s body conclusively prove that it was Bhanu who shot Suri,” Rao said.
He refuted the argument of Bhanu’s counsel, who argued that two unidentified gunmen shot him when Suri’s car slowed down at a speed-breaker. “If that theory was to be believed, persons outside the car can only shoot him on the left side of Suri. Whereas, the medical records showed that he had died due to the bullet injuries he suffered on the right side of neck and the posterior part of the scalp,” Rao said.
Bhanu left the scene of offence after shooting Suri and fled to Madhya Pradesh where he changed his name as Mukesh Kunjam and even secured an Aadhaar card under this new name. Madhya Pradesh police had even booked a case against Bhanu for leading a dubious life with a fake identity. “Even the gun Bhanu used in the crime belonged to his private security man, Man Mohan Singh Bhadauria, who was awarded five-year jail term in the same case,” Rao recalled.
The bench agreed with the prosecution and refused to interfere in the judgment of the trial court which analysed the evidence in a scientific manner and passed its order in 2018.