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Hyderabad cops raid rave party, film producer among 3 arrested
The police said four drug suppliers including three Nigerian nationals and 18 consumers, who were present at the rave party, are at large.
The Hyderabad police conducted raids at an alleged rave party in the Madhapur area of the city on Wednesday night and arrested three people, including a former Navy officer, a popular Telugu film financier and an employee of the South-Central Railway, officials familiar with the development said on Thursday.
Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TSNAB) superintendent of police (SP) D Sunitha told reporters that a team of the TSNAB officials, along with Gudimalkapur police, conducted a raid on an apartment, where the rave party was being conducted.
The arrested people include a former officer of Indian Navy-turned-businessman B Balaji (34), film financier K Venkataratna Reddy (47) and an employee of the Railway Protection Force in South Central Railway D Murali (42), who is a drug consumer.
“We have seized 2.8 grams of cocaine, 6 LSD [Lysergic acid diethylamide] blots, 25 ecstasy pills, two packets of ganja and ₹72,000 cash, besides two cars [ ₹32.89 lakh each] and five mobile phones from their possession,” the SP said.
Sunitha said four drug suppliers including three Nigerians and at least 18 consumers, who were present at the rave party, are at large. “There were two women at the apartment, who said they had come to the party on the invitation of Venkataratna Reddy to get roles in movies.”
According to her, Balaji, a native of Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district, had worked as an officer in the Indian Navy in the past but dropped out of the job after he was declared medically unfit due to an eye injury.
He later turned a businessman and used to come to Hyderabad regularly to celebrate and party with his friends at Fresh Living Apartments in Madhapur area of Cyberabad.
In this process, Balaji met some drug peddlers in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Later, he started arranging rave parties to his friends and other known people, at Hyderabad and surrounding areas.
Over a period of time, he established direct links with three Nigerians to procure drugs from Bengaluru and with another person in Visakhapatnam and bring them to Hyderabad.
“He used to supply drugs at parties and also to people in the cine field, besides selling them to the needy customers in Hyderabad, to earn easy money,” the SP said.
On the other hand, Venkataratna Reddy, a film financier who provided funding for several popular Telugu films like “Damarukam,” “Kick,” “Businessman,” “Lovely,” and Auto Nagar Surya, is habituated to consuming drugs and organising parties for his friends.
“He was funding Balaji to procure drugs in bulk quantity for the parties. He would also arrange women for the customers in the drug parties,” the SP said.
On Wednesday night, the TSNAB cops who got a credible information about the rave party arrested Balaji and seized some drugs from him.
On the information given by him, the police raided a flat at Fresh Living Apartments, Vittal Rao Nagar, Madhapur and apprehended other people.
“A case was registered at Gudimalkapur police station under relevant sections pf Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances [NDPS] Act and was an investigation into the matter is underway,” the police official said.
