A midnight police raid at a house on the outskirts of Hyderabad, where a Diwali party was going on, has sparked a row, with the Bharat Rashtra Samiti accusing the police and the Congress government in Telangana of politicising it. Rajendra Pakala, the owner of the farmhouse, is a relative of BRS working president K T Rama Rao.
Police claimed they had found an excessive number of Indian and foreign liquor bottles in the farmhouse premises, and a high-ranking employee of a software firm founded by Pakala tested positive for the use of cocaine.
According to C Srinivas, Deputy Commissioner of Police of Rajendranagar Zone under Cyberabad Police Commissionerate, on the night of October 26-27, based on reliable information, a raid was conducted by the local police, the Special Operations Team, and Excise officials on a farmhouse, where they found 21 men and 14 women attending a party.
Seven foreign liquor bottles and 10 loose Indian liquor bottles were found, which is excessive without an excise department permit, police said, adding that gaming related items were also found.
The men were subjected to a drug test using portable kits, as per police. According to the police, Pakala was booked for failing to obtain the Excise department’s permission.
BRS leaders objected to the raid and the manner in which police released videos from the operation.
BRS leader Dr Sravan Dasoju said the raid and the subsequent propaganda labelling a private family gathering as a “rave party’ was low-level politics of the Revanth Reddy government. He claimed that Pakala and his family were enjoying a family dinner when 300 police personnel barged in.
“Attempting to associate KTR with the gathering is nothing but a desperate move to tarnish his image through cheap political theatrics,” Dr Sravan said. “Hosting or attending a party with family members, including 70-year-old grandmothers and little children, is now a crime it seems. Everyone who attended the family party is being harassed,” claimed former BRS minister Sabita Indra Reddy.
BRS leader Talasani Srinivas Yadav said the Diwali get-together was being projected as a rave party. BRS workers also staged protests against the raid at various places. Police sources said no drugs were found during the raid, and only one person tested positive to the drug test.
