Anantapur, November 08: Former Maoist and Paritala Ravi aide Pothula Suresh was produced before a magistrate here late Sunday evening and was sent to judicial remand till Nov. 17.
District prison authorities had expressed apprehensions over Suresh’s safety in jail as suspects in the Paritala Ravi murder case are also lodged there. Therefore, the magistrate asked the police to remand him to the Charlapally central prison in Hyderabad. Police prevented media personnel from covering the proceedings in the magistrate’s house.
Suresh was produced before the magistrate after a lag of 38 hours since announcing his arrest on Friday afternoon. They claimed to have caught him in Udhna town in Surat district of Gujarat and Suresh’s wife V Sunita also confirmed the arrest. But contrary to these reports, it was reliably learnt on Sunday that a senior Congress leader from Anantapur, having considerable influence with chief minister K Rosaiah, bargained with the government and arranged Suresh’s surrender. The reports suggested that Suresh surrendered in Hyderabad four days ago. On Friday, Anantapur district jail superintendent Ravi Prasad filed a petition in the court opposing Suresh’s remand in the district jail.
–Agencies