HYDERABAD: Nearly a month after the Supreme Court upheld his two-year sentence, Gudipally Siddhartha Reddy surrendered before a Nampally court on Monday in connection with the death of Telugu–Tamil actor Pratyusha.
The case dates back to 2002, when Pratyusha and Siddhartha Reddy were in a relationship and had intended to marry. While the actor’s mother accepted the relationship, Siddhartha Reddy’s mother opposed the match, according to investigators.
Following the opposition, the couple consumed poison in an apparent suicide pact. Pratyusha was declared dead at a hospital, while Siddhartha Reddy survived after treatment.
The probe was later taken over by the CBI, which charged Siddhartha Reddy with abetment of suicide. A trial court subsequently convicted him and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment.
In 2011, however, the Andhra Pradesh High Court reduced the sentence to two years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000.
Both sides later approached the Supreme Court. Siddhartha Reddy sought acquittal, while Pratyusha’s mother sought a harsher punishment, alleging that her daughter had been raped and murdered by influential persons, including individuals from political families.
The Supreme Court declined to reopen the factual findings of the lower courts, stating that there was no legally sustainable basis to revisit the case at such a late stage in the absence of compelling new evidence.
On February 17, the apex court directed Siddhartha Reddy to surrender within four weeks.
According to case records, Siddhartha Reddy had earlier been arrested on March 8, 2002, and remained in judicial custody until June 28, 2002, when the Andhra Pradesh High Court granted him bail.