Another inmate of the same barrack, Om Prakash, facing trial for a triple murder and a spate of dacoities, was alleged by police to have bludgeoned Seenu to death with a cement dumb-bell when the latter was asleep. Seenu (38), second accused in the murder of Paritala Ravi, sustained grievous injuries on the right side of his face and head. He was taken to the Government General Hospital where he was declared brought dead.



There were six prisoners in the barrack, including Seenu and Om Prakash, the latter having been shifted there only 10 days ago. There was no clear explanation from the jail authorities on how the dumb-bell found its way into the barrack housing remand prisoners with hardcore criminal background.

Seenu’s wife alleged in her native village in Guntur that he was killed by Maddalacheruvu Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri, his one-time mentor with whom he had fallen apart. Suri is lodged in the Godavari block of Anantapur jail while Seenu was in the Yamuna block.
Superintendent of Police M.K. Singh, who interrogated Om Prakash, said the attack could have occurred around 4.30 a.m. The prisoner complained that Seenu had been harassing him ever since he was shifted to this barrack and they had several rounds of arguments over switching off lights early and over watching television. The latest was on Saturday night when Seenu switched off the lights when Om Prakash was writing ‘Rama Koti’.
Om Prakash had admitted to attacking Seenu with the dumb-bell repeatedly as he was vexed with the latter’s ‘domination and harassment’, the SP explained.
Meanwhile, DIG of Prisons (Rayalaseema) Sunil Kumar suspended two warders B.L. Mallikarjuna and Vasantha Kumar for negligence in duties while police registered a case of murder against Om Prakash under Section 302 of IPC.

Mahabubnagar Correspondent adds:
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy announced that the State government was prepared to order any kind of inquiry as per the wishes of Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu into the murder of Seenu.
He told mediapersons that there was no need for his government to eliminate Seenu and accused Mr. Naidu of being an expert in levelling such ‘sub-standard’ allegations. To a query, he said that he did not know whether there were any lethal weapons in the barrack in which Seenu was lodged.