Mr Siddhartha reddy, accused in the case relating to the sensational death of budding actress Pratyusha in 2002, today surrendered before the Nampally criminal court. He was then sent to the Chanchalguda jail.

The high court awarded two years imprisonment to Mr Siddhartha reddy on Dec 28 and asked him to surrender to the Nampally Court in 15 days.

After the Nampally criminal court found his involvement in the death of Pratyusha and sentenced him to six years imprisonment, Siddhartha reddy challenged the verdict in the high court. After a prolonged hearing of the case, the state apex court delivered its judgment curtailing his sentence to 2 years and imposing a fine of Rs.50,000.

Siddhartha reddy challenged the High Court verdict in the Supreme Court but no order came out of the apex court till date, the deadline put forth by the HC for his surrender. Following the HC directives, he surrendered before the Nampally court this evening.

It may be recalled that Pratyusha and his alleged lover Siddhartha reddy, son of a highly influential contractor of Hyderabad, were admitted to the Care Hospital in an unconscious state on February 23, 2002. It was alleged they consumed poison-mixed cool drinks after family elders refused to okay their marriage proposal.

Surprisingly, the hospital management didn’t inform the police about their admission despite knowing it was a medico-legal case. The police were informed only after Pratyusha died at 11.45 am on February 24, ending the chances of the police recording a dying declaration from the actress.

However, Siddhartha reddy survived the incident and faced the case in the Nampally criminal court which found him responsible for her death. Siddhartha reddy already spent 115 days in jail after which he came out on bail. (JUBS)