Hyderabad: A drug racket was busted on Saturday when the Task Force police raided a Pudding and Mink Pub in Banjara Hills of Hyderabad. Police detained 148 people, who attended the party and released them after interrogation. Meanwhile, 20 of them are pub staff. They seized five grams of cocaine and sent for forensic examination. The Task Force police took action after the local police ignored complaints of locals about rave parties being held in the pub for years.
On Saturday night, when the party was going on, on a tip-off, the Task Force conducted a decoy operation with two ACPs, five CIs and more than 100 personnel from Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Punjagutta Task Force units. Initially, a few constables in mufti were sent inside the pub. it was past 12 midnight on Saturday when two men came into the pub with drugs and distributed the packets and handed over to some in the dark. It changed the hands. Policemen, who were waiting outside the pub have been alerted, once they entered, the young men and women were seen with drugs in their hands. On seeing the police, they threw LSD blots, MDMA and heroin. At that time, 148 people from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and other States were taken into custody and taken to the police station. And after counseling and they were released on surety. Police said no samples were taken from them for medical tests.
Big Boss winner and singer Rahul Sipliganj and actress Niharika (daughter of Megastar Chiranjeevi's brother Nagababu) were among those arrested and questioned by the police. The son of a former MP from Telangana, the son of an MP from AP, and the daughter of a former police chief were also present. She was reportedly sent out by the police under their protection. The media was not allowed inside the station.
Hyderabad CP CV Anand reportedly vented his ire at Banjara Hills ACP Sudarshan and Inspector Sivachandra for being negligent in performing their duties. Inspector Sivachandra has been suspended. ACP Sudarshan was given a charge memo. Cases were registered against pub manager Mahadaram Anil Kumar (35), partner Abhishek Uppala (35) and Arjun Veeramachineni for selling drugs in the pub while Anil Kumar and Abhishek were arrested whereas Arjun was absconding.
‘"No police checks. Alcohol is available 24 hours a day. If necessary, we will add drugs. First, you need to register the names in the app. Each code number is assigned to each person after verification. You will only be allowed inside if you register it. The app was created for those in need of drugs. Pub manager Anil Kumar is operating this. Details of how much dosage should be entered in the app, the drugs would be handed over after confirming the OTPs sent to the phone numbers. Currently, 250 people are registered in the app, which is prescribed for pub entry," says police.
The Telangana Excise department said that they had granted permission to the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel to sell liquor 24 hours a day till September 2022. Charging a licence fee of Rs 52,66,700 for the management of a bar and restaurant and Rs 14 lakhs in addition for running the bar for 24 hours. Hotels with more than four stars were allowed to operate the bar and restaurants 24 hours a day.
