Raghava Reddy, of the last Hyderabad Police Service batch, no more

Hyderabad: Former IPS officer Gongi Reddy Raghava Reddy, who belonged to the last batch of the erstwhile Hyderabad Police Service, breathed his last on Monday. He was 94.

Reddy, who passed away at AIG Hospital at 5.15 pm on Monday while undergoing treatment, is survived by two daughters and a son. According to relatives, he was suffering from health-related issues due to age and was admitted at the hospital 10 days ago.

Born on July 5, 1928, in Pembarthi village of Warangal district, he lost both his parents at the tender age of six. The orphaned child was brought up by Raavi Narayana Reddy, then in the Congress party and later a top Communist leader, and also who introduced Raghava Reddy Mahatma Gandhi when he visited the city on March 9, 1934. It was at Gandhi’s instance that Raghava Reddy was enrolled in the Harijan Hostel as a token upper caste boy with Harijan boarders, with the Father of the Nation personally blessing him.

After completing his primary education in Warangal, he joined the Reddy Hostel and completed his higher education under the patronage of the Hyderabad Kotwal, Raja Bahadur Venkata Rama Reddy, during the Nizam’s era.

He completed his graduation from Osmania University and later enrolled for a two year law course in the evening college. In 1956, he was selected to the Hyderabad Police Service but joined directly as the Deputy Superintendent of Police in 1957 in Andhra Pradesh Police due to trifurcation of the Hyderabad State.

Reddy had authored a book, ‘As I look back’, considered a treatise on the police profession. Reddy, whose 32 years of service with the police won him many appreciations, had earlier survived stomach cancer.

The cremation will take place on Tuesday at 11 am at the Mahaprasthanam.