HYDERABAD, DEC 7: After nearly three weeks of extensive search operations, the prime accused in the worst ever explosion in the city last month, Maddelacheruvu Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri, was arrested by the Kolar police today along with some of his associates.

Twenty six persons were killed and more than 30 injured in the blast triggered by a bomb planted in a car in the posh Jubilee Hills area of the city on November 19. The government had announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for information on Suri's whereabouts.

According to information reaching the state police headquarters here, Suryanarayana Reddy, who was ensconced in a private lodge at Chitradurga in Karnataka, another accused, Adivasi Reddy, and some more accomplices were arrested in the early hours.

Suri's arrest however appears to be accidental as the police raided the lodge reportedly in search of dacoits involved in a recent offence in Kolar. The police team headed by Kolar superintendent of police Venugopal, chanced upon Suri and his associates and immediately brought it to the notice of the Director General of Police of Karnataka who conveyed the news to his Andhra Pradesh counterpart, H J Dora.

On receiving the news, the special CID team from AP camping in Bangalore since the blast, rushed to Kolar. Another team from here is leaving for Bangalore, senior police officials told The Indian Express.

The officials said the state CID would file a protection warrant petition in the local court at Kolar seeking custody of Suri and his associates. All of them would be brought to Hyderabad in a day or two after completing the legal formalities.

Besides Suryanarayana Reddy, nearly 20 others are named as accused in the bomb blast targeted at former minister Paritala Ravindra. He and Rajya Sabha member Mohan Babu escaped with minor injuries.

A few days ago, the CID police arrested Vasudeva Reddy -- a graduate in Electronics who had assembled the bomb -- Suri's brother-in-law and police sub-inspector Narasimha Reddy and another accused, Prakash Reddy.

Meanwhile, the Kolar SP told The Indian Express over the telephone that Suri and his associates were also responsible for contract killings, among them being the murder of an excise contractor on July 7. According to information received here, Suri had made an abortive bid on the life of Ravi on November 11 when he had gone attend the marriage of film director Shankar. The prime accused in the case also confessed to resorting to contract killings to earn money for the execution of the former minister. He had even prepared a scooter bomb to test the efficiency of the remote control device and the gelatin.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.