His connection with Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy alias Maddelacheruvu Suri started as a fan. By the quirk of fate, Mallisetty Bhanu Kiran ended up as ‘convict and killer’ of his one-time hero Suri.

Bhanu, who was handed down life sentence by a court here on Tuesday, worshipped Suri as hero. “Bhanu used to live in a village near Suri’s village in Anantapur district. Through the villagers, he heard lot of stories of Suri,” police officers, unwilling to be quoted, said.

Because of the political clout and leadership of his father, Suri was well known in and around his village. People used to flock him whenever he visited the place. As a youngster, Bhanu was impressed by all that and wanted to get close to Suri.

He used to meet Suri now and then. He continued that relationship even after Suri landed in prison having been arrested and convicted in Jubilee Hills Bomb Blast Case. “Suri too trusted him and used to assign minor tasks to Bhanu. Suri began relying on him, before securing conditional bail from High Court,” the investigators said.

However, Suri became suspicious of Bhanu’s activities after his other aides started complaining about how he was exploiting his proximity with Suri.

“After coming out on bail, Suri reportedly threatened Bhanu with dire consequences and abused him citing some instances of money misappropriation,” the officers said. This created a fear in Bhanu. During interrogation, he admitted to the investigators that he decided to eliminate Suri to keep himself alive. With the prosecutors presenting forensic, circumstantial and material evidence like revolver used to shoot Suri, the court held him guilty of the murder on Tuesday. Thus, a fan-turned killer ended as a life convict.