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A criminal lawyer par excellence
A popular criminal lawyer, freedom fighter and philanthropist Bonala Krishna Rao (88), who died last week, was born in 1929 at Bonala village in Sircilla district. He was the first of the six siblings of Koochagiri Rao and Kanthamma.
Hyderabad: A popular criminal lawyer, freedom fighter and philanthropist Bonala Krishna Rao (88), who died last week, was born in 1929 at Bonala village in Sircilla district. He was the first of the six siblings of Koochagiri Rao and Kanthamma.
He married Nirmala Rao, daughter of former MP late Lakshmi Narsimha Rao and late Kausalya Devi, whose grandfather, Kasuganti Narayana Rao, was a renowned scholar. He was well-known for his philanthropic worldviews, kind-hearted nature and philosophical outlook.
At the age of five, Rao joined a school at Dharmavaram and later studied in a rural school where Urdu was the medium of instruction. He shifted to Hyderabad for Matric and later to Aligarh Muslim University for X Class. In 1942, he joined Chaderghat Arts College.
Rao’s father organised the fourth Andhra Maha Sabha in Sircilla.
At that time, the first student elections took place. The first group was predominantly Muslim. He was in the second group, along with Maturi Narsimha Rao. Former Governor B Satyanarayana Reddy was the leader of the group. In March 1948, a student procession was detained by the Sultan Bazaar police in Hyderabad. The police raided the Reddy Hostel and 21 students were arrested and lodged in Chanchalguda Jail.
Rao was influenced by a book - ‘History of Indian National Congress’, written by Dr B Pattabi Rama Rao (founder of Andhra Bank). In 1952, he shifted to Nagpur, where he studied three courses simultaneously, including journalism in Hislop College, the first school of journalism.
He worked in Nagpur Times, where Tarun Bhaduri (father of actress Jaya Bhaduri) was his boss. His first article was on One Rupee. His article on ‘Extent of Dharma’, on Buddhism, was read by Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former Vice-President of India. It was forwarded to UNESCO and published in its journal.
On June 7, 1952, he joined the bar association in Nagpur. Under JV Narsing Rao’s patronage, Rao came to Hyderabad and joined the High Court. In 1957, he started ‘Navashakti’, a fortnightly magazine. He set the legal world on fire in 1958 by getting 17 people convicted, 16 of them hanged.
