Hyderabad, January 05: Factionist Maddelacheruvu Suri’s murder could well be a preplanned covert operation. Investigators believe prime suspect, Bhanu Kiran, was lured by a group of people, over the past one year, to eliminate Suri for a variety of reasons.
Sources associated with the investigation told Express that ever since Suri came out of jail about a year ago, he had made several enemies, mostly in land disputes and due to his involvement in tenders’ process.
“People from different walks of life bore a grudge against him and it appears that a former Naxalite too is somewhere involved in persuading Bhanu Kiran to commit the murder. They were waiting for the right opportunity which came their way on Monday,” the sources said.
The investigators also believe that Bhanu himself was upset with Suri over sharing of income from land settlments, extortions and tenders. “Suri’s rivals appear to have taken advantage of this very fact (Bhanu’s differences with Suri) and since then, he was being instigated by different persons at different times,” they said adding that all wanted to see Suri’s end but none wanted to get their hands dirty.
The officials also did not rule out the possibility of Bhanu getting a “reward” for the murder of Suri. “All those who counselled him and made him kill Suri promised him not only money, but also every other help. It seems he was told that if Suri was killed, the empire built by Suri would be his, they said.
As for the motives for the murder, they are as numerous as Suri’s enemies. “Suri was in the habit of using people to his advantage and dumping them. While he was in jail, there were many working for him outside. After he came out, he began distancing himself from them,” the sources said adding that many were aware that Suri could be killed any moment.
Soon after the suspect shot dead Suri, he escaped from the scene and is believed to have got into another vehicle and fled the city. Though rumours were rife that Bhanu had surrendered to the Cyberabad police soon after the incident, fact was that Bhanu could not be traced for several hours and was reportedly taken into custody late in the night.
–Agencies