Police raid BRS leader Rama Rao’s kin's farmhouse, party says it is CM's trap

HYDERABAD: Police here raided a farmhouse allegedly owned by BRS working president K T Rama Rao’s brother-in-law and booked one person, who tested positive for cocaine at the party organised there.

A police official said Rama Rao's brother-in-law, Raj Pakala, was absconding following the raid at his farmhouse.

The incident triggered a political row in Telangana, with leaders of the ruling Congress demanding a thorough investigation over the matter.

BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday alleged that the Congress government in Telangana is just "pretending" to enforce the law but is actually "protecting the BRS bigwigs".

However, the BRS alleged that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was trying to trap Rama Rao, also known as KTR, in a false case. The party claimed showcasing the residence as a farmhouse reeks of malicious intent.

Rama Rao’s brother-in-law, Raj Pakala, organised the party in his new house for his family members, the BRS said and accused the police and Excise officials of carrying out searches at the house without any warrant and harassing his family members by showing them as "participants" of the party.

Meanwhile, Rama Rao termed the cases as false and said it is done so because the BRS pointed out Revanth Reddy's "corruption, illegal activities, and failures."

He said Pakala built a house and had a housewarming ceremony with his family and friends, and it is his house and not a farmhouse.

Some people are maliciously labeling the family gathering as a "rave party", he said, adding "Even though I wasn't there, they are spreading baseless news with my name. Despite no illegal activities on our part, there is a malicious campaign and political conspiracy against us by the (Congress) government," he said.

Initially, the officials said it was an excise case for possessing more alcohol, but then they started calling it a narcotics case, the BRS leader said, adding "they are labeling it a narcotics case only on orders from above."

"No matter how many obstacles they put in our way, we will not stop fighting and will continue to expose Revanth Reddy's failures," Rao added.

"Because KTR is exposing the Congress government's failures and corruption, the BJP and Congress parties are conspiring against him…Revanth Reddy, Congress and BJP leaders are suffering from KTR syndrome, KTR phobia," the BRS said.

Alleging that there was a match-fixing between Revanth Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, the BRS accused the former of making the latter and other BJP leaders speak against KTR.

The BRS party said it will face the issue legally.

The BRS also denied the allegations that drugs and excessive foreign liquor were found at the house.

Meanwhile, some BRS leaders were taken into preventive custody in Raidurgam here after they protested alleging the police was entering the houses of its leaders "without search warrants".

According to police, following input that a party was going on at the farmhouse in Janwada, with "drugs and liquor unauthorisedly", a team of Cyberabad Police and Excise officials raided the place on the intervening night of October 26 and 27 and found 21 men and 14 women participants.

All the male participants were subjected to drug tests and one person in the gathering tested positive for cocaine and a case under relevant sections of the NDPS Act was registered, a senior police official told PTI.

During the raid, police found foreign liquor beyond the permitted quantity and that no permission was taken for the event.

Pakala hosted the event and since he did not obtain an Excise license, a case was registered against him under relevant sections of the Excise Act by the Excise Task Force besides another case was booked against him under the Telangana Gaming Act, police said.

An Excise official told the media that the party was organised without event permission and foreign liquor was also found.

Seven foreign and 10 Indian liquor bottles were found besides other gaming related items, police said, adding further investigation was on.

BJP leader Sanjay Kumar in a post on 'X' said "The raid at Janwada farmhouse is merely tip of the iceberg. Congress govt should not dilute the case - by giving a predictable statements. It’s becoming obvious that Congress and BRS are playing a “give and take” game, protecting each other’s interests."