Police raided a farmhouse allegedly belonging to a senior BRS leader’s brother-in-law and booked one person, who tested positive for cocaine at the party organised there. Leaders of the ruling Congress in Telangana on Sunday said the party was held at the farmhouse of Raj Pakala, brother-in-law of the BRS leader, and demanded a thorough investigation over the matter.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar alleged that the Congress Government in Telangana is just “pretending” to enforce the law but is actually “protecting the BRS bigwigs”. 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, said police officials. 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. Asked about ownership of the farmhouse, they said it appears that it belongs to him (Raj Pakala) but the ownership details have to be verified, the official 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.”