rmed with new evidence that hints at the role of an associate of Jagan Mohan Reddy in the sensational murder of Telugu Desam Party MLA Paritala Ravi, the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh might reopen the case to rein in its former MP.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which was handed the case by Jagan's father and the then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, made no mention in its chargesheet of the findings from inquiry conducted into the involvement of Dantuluri Krishna, an associate of Jagan, in the Ravindra or Ravi murder case in 2005.

According to an internal note of the investigating agency, accessed by The Sunday Guardian, the line of inquiry before the filing of the chargesheet had been to interrogate Krishna to explore his political connections and role in the Ravi murder. He was even summoned by the CBI for interrogation.

The case was recently resurrected when the prime accused in the Ravindra or Ravi murder case, gangster Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy or Maddechervu Suri, was shot dead in Hyderabad on 3 January. Suri, according to the CBI, was approached by Krishna.

The CBI note dated 17 April 2005 and written by Superintendent of Police, CBI, Special Crime Branch, Chennai, Camp: Anantpur, provides the "information" on Dantuluri Krishna alias Mangali Krishna, belonging to Pulivendula, the native place of YSR.

"He is neighbour and frontman of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who intends to take revenge against the killers of his grandfather, Y.S. Raja Reddy," the note states, adding that one Parthasarathy Reddy was thought to be the alleged killer.

"Krishna is in contact with Suri for this purpose...Suri struck a bargain through Krishna to eliminate P aritala Ravindra and then Parthasarathy Reddy will be tackled," the note states, recommending that Krishna should be interrogated to "throw more light".

Following this, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, CBI, Anantpur, sent a notice to Krishna summoning him to be present for questioning on 19 April 2005, regarding the Ravi murder case.

Eight days later the CBI filed its chargesheet in the case but without any reference to Krishna or his interrogation.

The 27 April 2005 chargesheet is filed against 13 accused in the Ravi murder case. It states the investigation revealed that Suri, then lodged in the Cheralapalli jail "hatched a criminal conspiracy" with the help of the accused persons to "eliminate Paritala Ravindra".

According to the CBI, Suri had considered Ravi as "responsible for the killings of his father G. Narayana Reddy, during the year 1983 and other family members, in a TV bomb blast, during the year 1993".

he chargesheet states that two of the accused, Rekhamaiah, Narayana Reddy and Julakanti Srinivas Reddy went to TDP office in Anantpur on 24 January 2005 where Ravi was attending "the general body meeting and shot him dead when he came out of the meeting".

They attacked the party office with bombs, shot and injured party workers. The subsequent arrest of these accused helped the CBI unearth evidence including the weapons used, and also unravel the conspiracy behind the killing.

During interrogation, Suri and the others, admitted to their involvement in the crimes. Suri was out on conditional bail since December 2010. He was convicted for a car-bomb blast in 1997 in Hyderabad, one of the many failed attempts to kill Ravi, in which 26 others were killed. It is suspected that Suri might have been shot dead by one of his own henchmen.

Ravi was killed in January 2005 at the height of the factional feud and the then Chief Minister YSR requested a CBI inquiry into the murder.

This week the Telugu Desam Party, in a memorandum submitted to Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, named Jagan Mohan Reddy in the murder case of Paritala Ravi. The TDP wants the case reopened as it thinks that the CBI was "influenced" by Rajasekhara Reddy.

The TDP action seeking a fresh probe came after a statement by Congress Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy saying, "Jagan should be thankful to me and Congress party, because as the chief whip it was me who defended him (Jagan) in a murder case in 2005 in the state Assembly.Image 2nd

The then CM Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had such faith in me that he never asked me how I was preparing to defend his son in the Assembly." He claimed that he had studied the case for 60 days.

The statement evoked loud protests from the TDP. "Now it is clear that the CBI had dropped Jagan's name because of YSR. It is also clear that the chief whip (now CM) defended a criminal in the Assembly," TDP MLA M. Narasimhulu, who led the delegation to the governor, told this newspaper.

At the same time, the Jagan group hit back at the Chief Minister as well as the Congress for "blackmailing" their leader with a murder case. "The Congress is worried that Jagan will form a new political party," Gattu Ramachandra Rao, a Jagan group spokesman told this newspaper.

"Sonia Gandhi is giving directions to Kiran Kumar Reddy and Kiran in turn is directing the Opposition TDP to see that their common enemy Jagan is decimated in Andhra Pradesh politics," alleged Ambati Rambabu, another Jagan group leader.

With inputs from S. Rama Krishna in Hyderabad.