Rave party busted at Madhapur in Hyderabad; movie financier, others arrested

HYDERABAD: Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TSANB) officials along with Gudimalkapur Police raided a rave party organised at Fresh Living apartments in Vittal Rao Nagar, Madhapur on Thursday.

The police apprehended three persons who were identified as B Balaji (34) ex-navy employee, a resident of Fresh Living apartments in Madhapur, K Venkataratna Reddy (47), a movie financier and a native of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and D Murali (42), working as senior steno at Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad.

The police seized narcotic drugs such as 2.8 grams of cocaine, LSD (six blots), ecstasy pills (25 pieces), ganja (two packets-20 grams each), cars and cash of Rs.72,500 and five mobile phones total worth Rs.32.89 lakhs from their possession.

TSANB Superintendent of Police (SP) D Sunitha Reddy said that on credible information, sleuths of TSNAB along with Gudimalkapur Police apprehended the three accused. Among them, Balaji was identified as a drug peddler, consumer and transporter, while Venkatratna Reddy was a drug party organiser and Murali was a consumer, she said.

Explaining the modus operandi of the accused, Sunitha Reddy said that Balaji was a native of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh and an ex-navy employee (declared as medically unfit due to eye injury). Regularly he used to come to Hyderabad to celebrate parties with his friends at Fresh Living Apartments, Madhapur, Cyberabad. In this process, he came into contact with drug peddlers in Hyderabad and Bangalore. Later he habituated to arranging drug parties for his friends and other known persons at Hyderabad and surrounding areas, she said.

The TSANB SP said that Balaji gradually established direct links/contacts with Nigerians to procure drugs from Bangalore and brought them to Hyderabad and arranged parties for his friends and other known persons. He also sold drugs to needy customers in Hyderabad and also to important people in the film industry and earned easy money. Regularly he purchased drugs from four people. Among them, three were Nigerian nationals who were residing in Bangalore and one person was a native of Visakhapatnam, she said.

Another accused, Venkataratna Reddy, was a film financier (who financed movies like Damarukam, Kick, Businessman, Lovely, Auto Nagar Surya etc.,) was habituated to drugs and organized drug parties for his known friends. He had arranged funds for Balaji to procure drugs in bulk and organised parties, besides arranging ladies for the drug parties. In this case, the four drug suppliers, including three Nigerians and eight consumers are at large. Furthermore, two ladies who were found in the place, came on the invitation of Venkataratna Reddy to get roles in movies, the TSANB SP said.

When NTV Crime Bureau chief Ramesh Vaitla was reporting the incident live, some people related to the accused threatened him and pushed him physically by manhandling.

APPEAL TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC:

TSNAB, Hyderabad requested the youth/students not to fall prey to drugs/ganja and requested the parents to keep a watch on the activities of their children and feel free to approach the Police or pass information to the Police on Phone No.8712671111 to-curtail such anti-social activities and strive for Drug free City.