HC dismisses bail plea of two honour killing accused

Releasing them might result in influencing of the witnesses, feels judge

Justice Lalitha Kanneganti of Telangana High Court on Thursday dismissed the petition of two accused seeking bail in the sensational honour killing of a youngster Hemanth Kumar reported nearly 14 months ago.

Yellu Santosh Reddy, 32, businessman and Kaila Sandeep Reddy, 30, private employee, who were the 13th and the 14th accused respectively in the abduction and murder of Hemanth Kumar filed the petition seeking bail. The petitioners’ counsel contended that the accused were family members of the complainant Avanthi Reddy, wife of slain Hemanth Kumar. The lawyer told the court that the petitioners went to the house of Avanthi Reddy to settle the matter as she married outside her caste. The public prosecutor, opposing granting of bail to the accused, said the government had constituted a fast-track court to conduct trial of the court which was likely to commence soon.

The counsel appearing for Avanthi Reddy said the accused had forcibly entered their house, kidnapped her husband Hemanth Kumar and killed him. They even threatened Kumar’s mother, after murdering him, the lawyer said. Observing that releasing the accused on bail might result in influencing the witnesses, the judge dismissed the petition.