Noted criminal lawyer and senior advocate of the High Court C.Padmanabha Reddy died here on Sunday. He was 82.
Reddy had been suffering from cancer for some time and was admitted to the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology a few days ago. He breathed his last around 3:45 pm on Sunday. Padmanabha Reddy is survived by wife and son justice C Praveen Kumar Reddy, now a judge of the AP High Court. The last rites will be performed at ESI Crematorium at 1.30 pm on Monday.
Born on March 18, 1931 in Anantapur district, Padmanabha Reddy had studied at Gooty High School and graduated in law from the Madras Law College. He enrolled as an advocate in the then Madras state and moved to Guntur when the Andhra High Court was set up after formation of the Andhra state in 1953. After the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 with the merger of Andhra and Hyderabad states, he moved to Hyderabad to practise in the AP High Court.
A highly learned legal expert, Padmanabha Reddy held the record for arguing the highest number of murder cases in the country. He was former president of the AP High Court Advocates Association and was for long had been associated with the Indian Lawyers Association, of which he was president for several years.
He was also a member of the defence committee which was formed to defend the cases of victims of Emergency. He had rendered free legal service to poor people.
Several members of the judiciary including High Court judges, former judges, advocates and others visited his residence and paid their last respects to him.