Patolla Govardhan Reddy, an accused in the Paritala Ravi murder case, was killed on Tuesday in Hyderabad. Patolla was attacked by four suspected armed assailants near Tilak Road. Police suspect that the notorious Nayeem gang killed Patolla Govardhan Reddy.
Patolla, A Naxalite-turned-underworld don, was arrested by police along with three aides in Hyderabad August 11, 2007. Earlier, he was acquitted in Paritala Ravi murder case. He came out on bail recently.
Patolla, an accused in 65 cases including eight murders in Andhra and Karnataka, reportedly formed a gang, with 10 members, to carry out operations against film, political and business families for ransom. For this, he had been acquiring weapons and explosives from Mumbai and other places.
He called his outfit Revolutionary Patriotic Tigers.
A graduate from Nizam’s College of Arts in Hyderabad, Govardhan originally started as a dalam member in the People’s War Group. He walked out of the party in 1990 and started his own Naxal outfit called ‘Revolutionary Patriotic Tigers’.
Police said that Govardhan then started accepting contracts for murders, and would kidnap people for a ransom. He is involved in a lot of land disputes. He would send explosive material in parcels to innocent people. The parcel would explode on opening, killing or injuring many.
Patolla made news in November 2008 when he made sensational allegation that Moddu Seenu, an accused in Paritala murder case, was killed in Anantapur jail on the suggestion of Maddelachervu Suri. When Suri was murdered, Patolla said that Suri was never a fair person and hence it was easy for Bhanu to eliminate him.
