Police serve notice on KTR�s brother-in-law Raj Pakala

Hyderabad, Oct 28 (IANS) Police on Monday summoned Raj Pakala, brother-in-law of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. T. Rama Rao, for questioning in the drugs case registered against him after a raid on his farmhouse at Janwada near Hyderabad.

Mokila Police, which had registered the case on Sunday, issued a notice on section 35 (3) of BNSS, asking him to appear for questioning in the case. The police told him that if he fails to appear, they would take necessary action.

As Raj Pakala could not be contacted, the police pasted the notice on his house at Orion Villas in Raidurgam.

Meanwhile, challenging the police notice Raj Pakala has approached the Telangana High Court. His petition is likely to come up for hearing in the afternoon.

Earlier, the Excise Department officials had said that Raj Pakala was absconding.

Police said on the intervening night of October 26 and 27, on reliable information, a raid was conducted by local police, SOT and Excise officials on the farmhouse of Raj Pakala, located at Janwada and it was found that 21 men and 14 women were present there.

As one of the party attendees tested positive for cocaine and police also found unauthorised use of liquor, Raj Pakala was booked under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and also under the Excise Act.

Seven foreign liquor bottles and 10 loose Indian liquor bottles were found. Other gaming related items were also found, said Srinivas Rao, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rajendranagar.

A First Information Report (FIR) under sections 25, 27 and 29 of NDPS Act and section 3 and 4 of Telangana State Gaming Act was registered at Mokila Police Station against Pakala Rajendra Prasad alias Raj Pakala and Vijay Madduri, who tested positive for cocaine.

According to FIR, Vijay Madduri tested positive for cocaine when a test was conducted with drug kits on all men present at the party. However, the organisers did not cooperate for conducting the test on women attendees with women staff.

Vijay Madduri told police that Raj Pakala asked him to consume cocaine. He also said they occasionally get together on weekends and consume drugs and play games by using poker coins.

The Excise Department registered a separate case against Raj Pakala under sections 34 A and 34(1) r/w 9 of Excise Act.

Excise Circle Inspector Srilatha said farmhouse supervisor Karthik is the accused number one (A1) in the case while Raja Pakala is A2.

K. T. Rama Rao termed the allegations against his brother-in-law politically motivated.

He said the Congress government was indulging in witch-hunt to silence their voice against the failures and corruption.