Accompanied by his supporters and media, Venkat Reddy proceeded in a convoy of three vehicles from his native village Brahmanakotkur near Nandikotkur to Kurnool town where he surrendered before Superintendent of Police B Malla Reddy.
Soon after his surrender, Venkat Reddy was sent to Cherlapalli central jail in Hyderabad in a police vehicle with heavy police escort.
A division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia on Tuesday declined to accept his pleas for suspension of the court orders quashing the remission of his jail term by the then Governor Sushil Kumar Shinde in 2005.
His advocate pleaded with the court to give him some time for his surrender and also specify the timeframe within which the Governor should dispose of Reddy's application for remission afresh. However, the division bench had rejected all his pleas.
In a statement issued by him at the time of his surrender, Venkat Reddy said that he was surrendering as he respected the apex court's orders. He asked his supporters and well-wishers to desist from organising any agitation or staging dharna or rasta roko to give vent to their protest against his surrender. He expressed the hope that ultimately he would get justice and come out of the jail.
Venkat Reddy, whose wife Gouru Charitha Reddy was elected to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on the Congress ticket from Nandikotkur constituency in 2004, is also a Congress leader.
Sensing apprehensions that his rivals from Telugu Desam Party were planning to kill him, he struck in a preemptive action and murdered two persons -- E Ramasubbaiah and S Ambi Reddy -- from the rival camp in September 1995.
In January 2002, the Kurnool Sessions court had sentenced him and seven others to life imprisonment. The High Court upheld the lower court's verdict awarding life term in March 2002. In June 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence to 10 years.
After the Congress regained power in May 2004, Venkat Reddy was granted parole on May 19. The parole period was extended four times. In October 2004, Venkat Reddy's wife and legislator Charitha Reddy made a representation seeking pardon for her husband.
On August 11, 2005 the governor granted remission of the sentence and Venkat Reddy was released after spending 38 months of his 10-year term.
On a writ petition filed by the victims' family members in September 2005, a division bench of Supreme Court on October 11 set aside the Governor's order granting remission to Venkat Reddy and passed severe strictures against the district collector, district probation officer and district superintendent of police for procedural lapses.
Now, Venkat Reddy returns to the jail to spend the remaining period of his prison term.
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