HYDERABAD: He aspired to become a police officer but took the opposite path and turned into a dreaded criminal, one whom the entire state police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could not lay their hands on for more than 10 months.
Perhaps, he was the only one who gave an interview to a television channel while on the run in which he daringly confessed that he had killed TDP legislator Paritala Ravindra to please his ‘baava’ (brother-in-law) Maddelacheruvu Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri.
The life of Julakanti Srinivas Reddy alias Moddu Srinu was full of twists and turns besides being a bloody affair.
It was only when an explosive went off accidentally at a hotel room in Chandanagar here in November 2005 that the police could lay their hands on the mostwanted criminal.
More than 10 months after the killing of Paritala Ravi in Anantapur in January 2005, Srinu landed in the police net after getting severely injured in an explosion in Supraja Lodge, a stone’s throw from the Chandanagar police station. Known as a tough nut to crack, he tried to flee from the hotel room even with severe bleeding injuries. He was identified as Moddu Srinu by a tattoo on his chest. Police recovered a .38 revolver and explosive material from the room then. Srinu was reportedly making explosives to eliminate an advocate to settle real estate disputes.
Cases under Sections 3 and 5 of Explosive Substance Act and Sections 25 and 27 of the Firearms Act were booked against Srinu in the incident. He was allegedly preparing a booby trap that accidentally went off.
Hailing from Challagonda village in Guntur district, Srinu’s ‘activities’ started right from his student days. He studied till B Sc second year and married a woman of his choice and had two children.
Srinu’s nefarious activities in the city started in 1995 and after being part of former Naxalite Patlolla Goverdhan Reddy’s self-styled outfit, Revolutionary Patriotic Tiger’s (RPT), he indulged in forcible settlements and extortions.
In 1995, Srinu and his associates hired a car from a private travels in Chikkadpally to Yadagirigutta. On their way, they killed the driver and fled in the car. A case was registered at the Chikkadpally police station but all the accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence in 2007.
Later in 2003, he was nabbed by the Task Force sleuths from a hotel at RTC Crossroads while in possession of weapons.
In the same year, Srinu and his associates allegedly killed a pan shop owner, Ramakrishna, on the Himayatnagar main road. Apart from Srinu, the other accused in the case, Patlolla Goverdhan Reddy and M Anjaiah, were also acquitted again due to lack of evidence.
Srinu and his associates were also involved in the killing of a former Naxalite, Venkat Reddy, and another person, Sampath, in December 2004. The duo were picked up from Kacheguda and Venkat Reddy was eliminated at Hayathnagar while Sampath was bumped off at Choutuppal, police sources said.
The former Naxalite was also reportedly into land settlements and, with RPT also indulging in similar activities, the two groups became rivals.
Police sources said Moddu Srinu took shelter in various places in the country after killing Paritala Ravi. He even stayed at a rented house at Ramnagar here along with his family. He, however, managed to escape from the house when police raided it.