In a setback to YSR Congress party MLC Ananta Udaya Bhakar alias Ananta Babu, the Andhra Pradesh high court on Friday dismissed his plea against reopening of the case in connection with the murder of his car driver V Subrahmanyam and door-delivery of his body at his house.
The high court refused to grant a stay on the Rajahmundry SC/ST Special Court's verdict that allowed for a reinvestigation of the case.
The high court clarified that the case can indeed be reopened for further inquiry based on the lower court’s ruling.
Anantha Babu had challenged the Rajahmundry court's decision by filing a petition in the high court, seeking to halt the reinvestigation.
The petition was heard on Thursday and with the high court rejecting the stay request, all obstacles to a fresh probe have now been removed.
Meanwhile, the noose seems to be tightening around Anantha Babu.
The Andhra Pradesh government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. The SIT has begun its investigation and is reportedly focusing on those who supported or assisted the MLC.
The SIT is aiming to complete the reinvestigation within 90 days. Anantha Babu is the prime accused in the case, which involves the murder of his driver and the body being left at his house in a shocking sequence of events likened to a "door delivery."
The incident happened on May 20, 2022 at Kakinada. Subrahmanyam, who had worked as the car driver for Ananta Babu, was found dead in mysterious circumstances in the back seat of the car.
Investigations revealed that the MLC, who came to Subrahmanyam’s residence on Thursday night and took him out stating that he had some work, handed over the body to the victim’s family at his residence stating that the latter had died in a road accident.
When the family members protested as there were injuries on his body, the MLC fled the scene leaving the car behind.
The police in Sarpavaram police station initially booked a case of suspicious death under Section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code, based on the complaint ledged by Subrahmanyam’s family members.
A couple of days later, the police registered a case under Section 302 (murder) against Ananta Babu apart from under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as the deceased belonged to a Dalit community.
A few days later, the MLC was arrested but he managed to get the bail due to failure of the prosecution to produce proper evidence. Since then, he has been moving freely.
After the TDP-led coalition government came to power last year, the case has been reopened.
