Paritala Ravindra was one of the most adored lord of Rayalaseema region
in Andhra Pradesh. He was elected as M.L.A for five times from Penukonda
constituency in Anantapur district. He was slain by his political
rivals in 2005 because of a vandetta. He was one of the most
controversial persons in the history of Andhra Pradesh politics. A 1998
report prepared by the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee on
Paritala Ravi, a former naxalite, says: "The entire district kneels down
before him. Everyone is afraid of him. From 1994, even the political
scenario (in Anantapur district) has undergone a change".
FAMILY BACKGROUND:
Ravi's Father Paritala SriRamulu:
Paritala Ravindra was born on 30-8-1957 in Venkatapuram village of
Nasanakota panchayati (Ramagiri mandal, Penukonda constituency,
Anantapur district).His father was SriRamulu (12-4-1935 to 29-05-1975).
Even though his father was a landlord of 300 acres, he was inspired by
the Marxist ideology. He donated most of his land to the poor. He also
lead the poor and the oppressed (Boya, Kuruba, Eediga castes) in
fighting for their rights over the land (sivaijaama Bhoomulu) occupied
by landlords of kanaganapalli and chennekothapalli, namely Gangula
Narayana Reddy and Sane Chenna Reddy. He managed to distribute around
600 acres of land belonging to these landlords and their supporters
among the poor. He joined C.P.I(M.L) party in 1971. He became top most
leader of the Naxal movement in Andhra Pradesh. He didnt kill
anyone.(Refer to Eenadu News Paper(Anantapur edition) dated 25-1-2005
and Sunday magazine of Eenadu newspaper dated 6-2-2005 for more
information about beginning of vandetta and the land struggle).
This land struggle turned into a vandetta and caste struggle when he was
killed on 29-5-1975 by his own follower. This follower took money from
Gangula and Sane. He was going to attend a marriage in Baksampalli. The
bus stopped near Baksampalli cross. He stepped down from the bus and
immediately he was killed by that person. Gangula Narayana Reddy and
Sane Chenna Reddy were the conspirators.
Ravi's younger brother Paritala Hari:Paritala Hari was younger brother
of Paritala Ravi. He was born on 10-7-1960. After his father was killed
by Gangula, he lead poor and oppressed. He joined Naxal movement in
1979. He managed to distribute some land ocupied by the same landlords.
He became a powerful Naxalite. He lead the Naxals in killng Saayanna.
They (Naxals) never killed any children or women.
On 28-11-1982 Hari was killed by the police inspector named Kabir in a
fake encounter. Hari was there in his house in Venkatapuram. Police came
to know this. They immediately went to Venkatapuram. Hari was not able
to escape from the police, so he was hiding in the house all the doors
closed. Police caught his sister and threatened Hari that they would
rape his sister if he didnt come out of the house. So Hari finally came
out of the house. He was taken to Nasanakota village which is 2 Km away
from Venkatapuram. There he was shot by inspector Kabir infront of
hundreds of villagers. Again Gangula Narayana Reddy, Gangula Narsanna,
Sane Chenna Reddy were the conspirators.
Early life of Ravi:
As he lost his father and brother in the vandetta, he wanted to take
safe shelter to protect his life from his family rivals. His family
rivals were after him after killing his brother. Paritala Ravi once said
that he walked barefoot for somedays during those days when he was
trying to save his life from his rivals. He went to his mother's
brother, Kondaiah, in SeerpiKottaala village of Uravakonda constituency
to take shelter. Their he married Paritala Suneetha, his cousin in 1986.
He took up cultivation at that time.
He never was a naxalite. Many P.W.G leaders, Maoist party leaders,
Virasam leader VaraVara Rao, Gaddar said this many times. He
participated in the faction politics from 1991 and not before that.
It is Congress propaganda that he was the conspirator in killing Gangula
Narayana Reddy, Narsanna and Yaadi Reddy during 1982-83. On the
contrary it was not he but it was Naxalites who killed them. This is
again said by many Naxal leaders.
Naxals who were fed up of the attrocities committed by Gangula Narayana
Reddy, his followers Chenna Reddy, Narsanna, Yaadi Reddy wanted to kill
them. They also wanted to take revenge of the killings of their party
leaders SriRamulu and Hari. First persons to be killed were Narsanna and
Yaadi Reddy. They never killed women and kids even that time. Then it
was Narayana Reddy's turn in 1983. Narayana Reddy was in Anantapur in a
lodge on 1-6-1983. He was brutally hacked down by the P.W.G. Naxals
escaped from there immediately.
Naturally everyone's fingers pointed to Ravindra. But he was not at all
involved in the murder. He was not even a conspirator. Later P.W.G
leaders said this.
Ravi's entry in to factionism:
After Narayana Reddy was killed, Ramachandra Reddy of Telugu desam party
became M.L.A from Penukonda in 1983 and 1985. Even though he became
M.L.A Penukonda was never peaceful. Chenna Reddy, his sons Ramana Reddy
and Obul Reddy, Gangula Surya Narayana Reddy (son of Narayana Reddy) and
many of their thugs committed many attrocities. Surya Narayana Reddy
and Obul Reddy raped many women in their own houses infront of the
parents of the women. Some T.D.P activists were killed during that time.
In 1989 election, congress formed the govt in the state. Sane Chenna
Reddy became M.L.A of Penukonda by defeating Ramachandra Reddy of T.D.P.
From there on attrocities committed by his sons Ramana Reddy and Obul
Reddy, Gangula Surya Narayana Reddy incresed. There was a womens college
near the house of Chenna Reddy. It is said that during the time of 1989
to 1993 the strength of the womens college came down to ground levels, a
stage in which the college had to be closed down. Women were afraid to
come out of their houses in Dharmavaram because of the fear that they
would be raped by Obul Reddy.
Obul Reddy raped many women and school going girls. Women includes
married women of age 45 or less. For instance, he once raped wife of an
engineer in Dharmavaram which became an issue. He raped two women from
Tamil Nadu who came to Dharmavaram for livelyhood. He even raped wives
of his followers also. He once raped daughter of Dr. Kullayappa who was
congress member.
Re-organising Committee (R.O.C):
P.W.G expelled Kondapalli Seetha Ramaiah from the party. He split P.W.G
in to two. One is P.W KS group. Potula Suresh who shot Chenna Reddy was
an active member of this group. After T.V bomb blast, this group was
agian split in to two. One was Redstar and other was Re-Organising
committee (ROC). Potula Suresh was head of ROC and Sudarshan was head of
Redstar. Redstar was pro to Chenna Reddy sons and Surya Narayana Reddy.
ROC worked for Paritala Ravindra. There was gangwar between these two
groups.
ROC killed around 16 people, kidnapped around 13 people belonging to
Obul Reddy or Surya Narayana Reddy. Congress spread propaganda that
Paritala Ravindra was accused in 57 cases. Even DGP said this.But When
challenged to show the police records which proves their claim, they
failed to show any records. When Paritala Ravindra was killed, only 5
police cases were there in which his name was mentioned.
Paritala Ravindra's faction and political career:
ROC acted as Ravi's pocket organisation. Potula Suresh, Chaman,
Prabhakar, Madhusudhan Reddy etc became henchmen of Paritala Ravindra.
As mentioned above, Chenna Reddy was killed by P.W.G. Paritala Ravindra
was the conspirator. After this ROC was formed and every thing is done
by ROC on behalf of Ravindra. In 1993, ROC planted a bomb in a
Television of Surya Narayana Reddy to kill him as soon as that is
switched on. But the attempt failed. The explosion that resulted brought
down the house, and killed four persons including his mother and two
brothers, his sister and injured four others. Paritala Ravi was named
Accused No.1 in the case. Surya Narayana Reddy escaped and took shelter
in Karnataka. There he married Bhanumati.
Paritala came out of underground in 1993. He got TDP ticket from
penukonda. Ramana Reddy fought on congress ticket. one TDP activist was
killed and large scale rigging was done by Ramana Reddy. But he lost to
Paritala. Ravindra became labour minister in NTR's govt in 1994. He
resigned as the minister and M.L.A as he didnt like the involvement of
Lakshmi Parvathi in the case of J.C.Prabhakar Reddy. J.C.Prabhakar
Reddy, brother of J.C.Diwakar Reddy wanted to join TDP. But Ravindra
didnt like this. Prabhakar Reddy had the blessings of Lakshmi Parvathi
wife of NTR which was against the wish of Anantapur district's TDP
leaders. NTR later realising that Paritala had not done any mistake,
gave ticket to him to fight from Penukonda again in 1995. He won as
M.L.A.
He was on NTR's side during the coup in TDP in 1995. He resigned from
the NTR TDP after the death of NTR and joined TDP. He fought elections
in 1996 on TDP ticket from Penukonda on Ramana Reddy. Large scale
rigging was done by Paritala Ravindra's henchmen. No person was killed
or kidnapped during the elcetions.
ROC now eyed on Obul Reddy. In 1996 when Obul Reddy along with his three
henchmen was in a lodge in Hyderabad with a prostitute, he was attacked
by ROC. He was taking bath. That prostitute was sent away from the room
and the henchmen were hacked down. Then they brought Obul Reddy outside
from bathroom. His throat was slit almost completely and his genitals
were cut down brutally. They escaped from there immediately. Paritala
Ravindra was the prime accused.
Suri tried to take vengeance by triggering off a remote-controlled car
bomb in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, in 1997 but missed his target,
Paritala Ravi, who was then producing a movie called Sriramulaiah based
on his father's struggle against landlords. 26 persons including Etv
crew were killed and 32 were injured in the bomb blast. This blast was
first of it's kind in India and 2nd in the world. Bhanukota Kishtappa,
P.Lakshma Reddy, two engineering graduates from Jonnala Kotha palli,
Kuntimaddi Sri Ramulu, Konda Reddy, Perugu Venkatesulu and many more
were involved in this case. All these were close associates of Surya
Narayana Reddy. Surya Narayana Reddy was later caught in Karnataka and
was put in Charlapalli jail.
ROC killed those two from Jonnala Kotha Palli in a hotel in Hyderabad.
Bhanukota Kishtappa eludes the police even now. Kuntimaddi Sri Ramulu
was killed by ROC. Venkatesulu was also killed. Konda Reddy who killed
Boya Naagaraju escaped narrowly in two attacks on him. Ramana Reddy
brother of Obul Reddy was killed in 1999 in Hyderabad in a house. He was
invited to a party by one of his friends. There ROC group entered in
the house and shot Ramana Reddy.
During 1999 elections, a weak candidate contested on congress ticket and
Paritala on TDP ticket. From jail, Soori contested on general ricket.
He won with huge majority. Soori didnt even get his deposits back. No
person was killed or kidnapped during the elcetions.
Paritala used to participate in land settlements in Bangalore and
Hyderabad. He used to acquire most of the big contracts on his name. ROC
helped in all these things. Most of the opponents used to fear to
submit schedules in tenders without his assent. Many persons even though
they didnt know Paritala Ravindra personally, used the name of Paritala
Ravindra to get many contracts on their names.
After 2000, not much of quarrels were there. Once Soori planned to blow
up Ravindra's house in Anantapur with the help of Y.S Jagan. But the
attempt failed. A case was registered by the police on Y.S Jagan and
Soori. Three henchmen of Paritala were killed by Soori's gang while they
were travelling in a car to Venkatapuram to attend Mass Marriages
conducted by Paritala Ravindra. Many of Surya Narayana Reddy supporters
and Obul Reddy supporters left their villages as they were afraid of
Ravindra and ROC. In 2002 ROC's chief Potula Suresh came out of
underground. Only settlements and fraud in contracts took place during
this time.
In 2004 general elections Soori's wife Bhanumati contested on congress
ticket. Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy supported her. Paritala Ravindra was
threatened by Naxals not to campaign for the elections. His rivals were
also planning to kill him during campaigning. He therefore had not even
come out of his village Venkatapuram. Campaigning was done by his wife
Suneetha and women from the constituency. His henchmen like Suresh and
Chaman were arrested under Preventive detention act to prevent rigging.
On the polling day he and his men kidnapped and shot one of the congress
activist. He didnt die. This became huge issue and even discussed in
Assembly. After that incident he was house arrested for that whole day.
Except that incident that day was peaceful with absolutely no rigging.
Paritala Ravi won with 24,000 votes majority.
After 2004 elections, till his death:
TDP lost power and congress formed govt in the state. From the day three
of forming the govt, i.e from May 14th onwards killing of TDP activists
started in the Anantapur district. Paritala Ravindra's life was in
danger. His security was decreased to 2+2 gunmen. He asked for more
security which govt refused. He went to high court on this issue. Court
issued orders to govt to provide 5+5 security. Govt did that but
provided gunmen who were of age more than 40 years and gave them very
old and damaged guns. Paritala was not allowed to go in a large convoy.
Only a group of 2 vehicles was allowed showing the reasons that it
becomes difficult for the people to go on roads. His houses in Anantapur
and Venkatapuram were frequently raided by the police.
* Paritala Ravi's follower and counsellor, Basha, was killed in Dharmavaram by Soori's gang in June 2004.
* Another of Ravi's follower Adi Narayana, who was Z.P.T.C member of Somandepalli, was killed.
* Tagarakunta Prabhakar was also killed by Soori's gang which consisted
of Julakanti Sreenivasa Reddy, Damodar Reddy, Bhaskar Reddy etc.
Tagarakunta Konda Reddy and Soori were the conspirators. Prabhakar who
was entering his Sumo after having a shave was shot in the car by
Sreenivas Reddy. They escaped immediately after that. Prabhakar died
immediately.
* RK who was a follower of Paritala Ravindra was killed in Bellary by the same men when he came out of house for a morning walk.
* They planned to kill Ravi if he comes to compaign in Byelections of Somandepalli Z.P.T.C. But Ravindra didnt campaign.
* Anantapur DSP Narasimha Reddy was accused to be involved in the
murders of Pavurala Krishna and his brother in Anantapur. DSP called
them to police station. When they were on the way to police station they
were killed.
* Soori was allowed to use cellphones in the Charlapalli jail. He used
to operate everything from the jail itself. He met Joolakanti Sreenivas
Reddy and other prime accused in the jail itself through Mulakhaath. All
the records of Milakhath were manipulated by the Jail Superintendent.
Y.S Jagan allegedly met him in the jail with fake identities, with the
help of Charlapalli Jail Superintendent.
* Paritala Ravindra once accused Y.S Jagan that Jagan was trying to kill
him. Jagan filed a case in court of Pulivendula. Paritala wanted to go
there in a large convoy. But only 2 vehicles were allowed.
* On 24-1-2005, after the party meeting in the TDP office in Anantapur,
when he was coming out of the office he was shot by Joolakanti
Sreenivasa Reddy, Narayana Reddy, Rekhamayyah. Vadde Seena and some
others also participated in the shooting. Paritala died instantaneously.
His gunman Habib and Ravi's follower were also killed. Remaining gunmen
who were aged above 40 dropped guns on the shooters orders. Gangula
Surya Narayana Reddy alias Soori, Tagarakunta Konda Reddy were
conspirators.
Ravi is survived by his wife, two sons and one daughter.
After his death:
TDP activists were very angry and they burnt many buses and caused
damage to many buses. APSRTC was incurred a heavy loss of around Rs 60
crore. When Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga was killed in 1989 in Vijayawada
congress activists caused a loss of Rs 300 crore to APSRTC (refer
Frontline magazine dated Feb. 12 - 25, 2005). Many cases were filed on
TDP workers and many were put in jail.
The shooters took shelter in bank employee Rammohan Reddy. Rekhamayyah
surfaced before Mahaboobnagar police after three days of murder. Few
days later five persons who participated and helped in attack surfaced
in lawyer Adi Sesha Reddy house infront of media. They were Narayana
Reddy, Obi Reddy, Vadde Seena, Ranga nayakulu, Konda. This case was
given to Central Bureau of Investigation. Police and C.B.I were not able
to catch even one person of the accused. Everyone came out of their
hideouts by themselves. First Damodar Reddy was caught because of an
accident. Joolakanti Sreenivas Reddy went to Coambattore via Cudapah and
from there he went to Delhi and lived there with his family for
sometime. He gave an interview to a TV channel saying that he would
surface himself before police after killing Suresh and Chaman. He was
CBI's most wanted criminal ny that time. He was in a lodge in Hyderabad
when a blast took place because of which police caught him. CBI
interrogated the case and dug out practically nothing. Soori was brought
back to Anantapur central jail for interrogation. The case is still
going on in the district magistrate court of Anantapur.
Congress made Bhanumati a scapegoat by not giving a ticket to her in the
byelections. They asked TDP not to give ticket to Paritala family so
that they can stop factionism. Congress left out it's so called ideals
during the period 1975 to 2004 and suddenly they realised the ideals
after Ravi was killed. Congress gave ticket to Boya Sree Ramulu of
Gutturu village. On the nomination day of Suneetha, six TDP activists
were killed in police firing. A police was also killed. Cases were filed
on more than 2000 TDP activists. Bindovers were carried over. J.C
Diwakar Reddy who is minister carried on campaigning for Sri Ramulu. TV
channels telecasted how he threatened TDP activists not to campaign for
Suneetha. He threatened that they will be put in jail in the cases filed
on them on nomination day. Some congress workers were caught
distributing money and liquor to the voters. These were also telecasted
by the channels. Many congress workers who left their villages in Ravi's
time came back to participate in elections. Sudhakar a TDP activist was
killed in Dharmavaram before one month of elections. Two days before
elections Kuruba Aanjineyulu was killed by congress activists. Large
number of police were employed as security on polling day as everyone's
eyes were on the elections. Elections went on very peacefully. Suneetha
won with huge majority of 19,000 votes.
Development and Social service in Penukonda:
(Refer to Eenadu News Paper,print edition,(Anantapur edition) dated 25-1-2005).
* Ravi's family supply rice, wheat and barley to around nine villages of
Nasanakota Panchayati. The villagers are entirely dependent on Ravi's
family.
* Anantapur district is famous for continuous droughts. Poor farmers
cannot afford to marry their daughters because of dowry and high
marriage expenditure. So Ravi's family took up the responsibilities of
their marriages. Around 360 marriages were conducted.
* He rebuilt the temple of Venkateswara in Nasanakota panchayati. He
built community halls which can be used by poor. Road construction was
carried out by him on his own money in two villages. He spent around 4
crores to build temple and others.
* As the area has dearth of drinking water, water supplying scheme was
introduced by him in 44 villages of his constituency. 11 crores was
granted by the govt and 3 crores was spent from his pocket. Total of 14
crores was spent to supply drinking water.
* Patolla Govardhana reddy (he was also accused in the case, Sreenivas
Reddy was in his gang) also accepted that Paritala and his Family is
Pro-Poor.
Former district collector of Anantapur, Somesh Kumar once said that he
once visited Penukonda in 1991 during his training days. He said that
Penukonda was very under developed during that time. He said that lot of
development took place during Paritala Ravi's time.
* Govt Jr college was built in Roddam mandal during his time.
* Primary hospitals in more than 3 villages were built during his time.
* M.R.O office in Roddam was built in his time.
* Road network was expanded to almost all villages during his time
Source:Kamma Yuva Seva Samithi(KYSS)
He was a sadist. He once killed a person by throwing him on the railway
track under a moving train. He killed Muskeen, a T.D.P activist, by
cutting a kilogram of muscle from his body everyday. He once drilled
bore (Rigs) in the stomach of a person. There are many other instances
in which he raped many. To sum up these are only few cases.
* On the other had Surya Narayana Reddy raped some women. He once raped a
women belonging to Kuruba (Kurava) caste infront of her father and
mother in Maddelacheruvu. He raped a goverment employee in
Maddelacheruvu.
* In 1990 Chenna Reddy and Surya Narayana Reddy gangs killed
Paathapaalyam village committee leader, Boya Venkata Ramudu who was
close to Paritala Ravindra's family. They also killed Vepakunta village
secretary, Vaaraadappa. After killing them they burnt their bodies with
diesel.
* Chenna Reddy and Surya Narayana Reddy abducted Nemalivaram village
sarpanch, Subbaraayudu and killed him in Kanagaanapalli and thrown him
into thorn bushes and burnt him.
* In 1994 they killed Narayanappa in Rayadurgam who was a close
associate of Nanji Reddy. Nanji Reddy was close associate of Paritala
Ravindra.
* Boya Naagaraju, Tagarakunta village sarpanch and close associate of
Ravindra, was killed in a bomb blast on Republic day, when he was
unfurling the flag. This was done by Surya Narayana Reddy for the sake
of Tagarakunta Konda Reddy, a close associate of him.
* As mentioned above Muskeen of Dharmavaram was also killed. These are only some examples.
Paritala Ravindra wanted to take revenge of his father's and brother's
death. He awaited right time. He joined hands with Naxals in 1991. Even
Naxals wanted to help Ravi as his father and brother were their party
leaders. Sane Chenna Reddy who was conspirator in his father's and
brother's death was killed in his house in Dharmavaram in 1991. Chenna
Reddy was sitting on a chair, reading news paper.Three naxals wearing
police uniform came to him, saluted and shot him.
Byelections were conducted. Ramana Reddy, son of Chenna Reddy got
congress ticket and Gaade Lingappa got TDP ticket. Heavy rigging took
place in favour of Ramana Reddy. Four TDP activists were killed by
Ramana Reddy and Obul Reddy's thugs. Gaade Lingappa was defeated and
Ramana Reddy became M.L.A in 1991. After he became M.L.A, their
attrocities increased two fold.