The Hyderabad police have booked three persons in connection with the pub raid in the upscale Banjara Hills area of the city. Police said that they found packets of white powder suspected to be cocaine on the premises of the Pudding and Mink pub at Radisson Blu Hotel, which was raided during the early hours of Sunday, April 3. Among those arrested are the manager of the pub Mahadaram Anil Kumar, and Abhishek Vuppala, who is a partner of the pub, a press release from the Hyderabad Police said. Another person, Arjun Veeramachineni, who was absconding, was also booked in a case registered under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Hyderabad police said that as part of the special drive on pubs and bars in the city, they received credible information that Pudding and Mink was operating at 1.40 am on April 3 with a huge crowd, and that “some drugs are also consumed by some of the customers.” The Task Force along with local police raided the pub at 2 am and found more than 100 persons consuming liquor in the pub, the press note said. “On thorough checking of the premises, five small packets containing white powder suspected to be cocaine were found in one of the plastic containers used for holding drink straws present on the bar counter in the custody of its Manager Anil Kumar,” the statement said.
Around 144 people who were present in the pub were taken to the Banjara Hills police station, including actor Niharika Konidela and singer Rahul Sipligunj. It was also reported that a few other members of prominent families, including those of politicians, were among those present at the pub when it was raided.
The police statement also added that the partners of the pub allow only certain elite customers and their guests access to the pub and operate it till 4 am. The pub has an app where a code is generated for each customer, and people can get in only by entering the code at the entrance, police said. A case was registered under sections 8(c) (produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import inter-State, export inter-State, import into India, export from India or tranship any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance), 22(b) (punishment for contravention in relation to psychotropic substances), 29(1) (punishment for abetment and criminal conspiracy) of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at the Banjara Hills police station.
Incidentally, singer and winner of Bigg Boss Telugu Season 3 Rahul Sipligunj, who was among those detained, was part of "Drugs free Hyderabad" campaign launched by the Hyderabad police. He even sang a song as part of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Niharika’s father and actor Chiranjeevi’s brother Naga Babu Konidela issued a video statement clarifying that though his daughter Niharika was present at the pub, she had done nothing wrong. He said the police have made it clear that she was not at fault. "Our conscience is clear," said Naga Babu. Naga Babu appealed to social media and mainstream media not to spread "unwanted speculations" about Niharika.
With IANS inputs