The long-pending case involving the death of Telugu actress Prathyusha has come to an end. The top court today ruled out murder (specifically by strangulation), holding that overwhelming ocular (eyewitness) and medical evidence proved death was due to poisoning. It rejected allegations of rape against her boyfriend, Gudipalli Siddhartha Reddy. It observed that a surviving partner in a mutual suicide pact remains legally culpable for abetment. The conviction for abetment of suicide was upheld. And Reddy was directed to surrender within four weeks.
She and her boyfriend consumed poison in a mutual suicide pact, reportedly due to opposition from Reddy's parents to their inter-caste relationship. Reddy survived, but Pratyusha died.
What happened more than two decades ago:
Actress Prathyusha was a rising star heroine in the early 2000s, having acted in as many as 22 movies in just two years. She was busy in both Telugu and Tamil. Her sudden death under mysterious circumstances in February 2002 shook the film industry. Prathyusha's family alleged that Siddharth was responsible for her death, accusing him of harassment and even murder. Siddharth maintained that their action was a joint suicide pact due to relationship issues.
The CBI took over:
Following public outrage, the case was handed over to the CBI, which found that Prathyusha was not murdered. Dropping murder charges, the CBI, however, declared that Siddharth had abetted her to commit suicide. The report was tabled in 2004. Siddharth was sentenced to five years in jail but he came out on bail. In 2012, a High Court reduced the term of imprisonment from five years to two years.
Mother's allegations:
Since then, Prathyusha's mother, Sarojini Devi, has spoken about her daughter's death in interviews. Even after the CBI investigation, she believed that Siddharth murdered her daughter. "Siddharth developed an inferiority complex because Prathyusha's popularity was on the rise. Also, his parents were not willing to allow him to marry my daughter because she was an actress," the mother told Suman TV last year.
