The police raid on the Pudding & Mink Pub located in a five star hotel premises in the early hours of Sunday created tremors in the political circles in the Telangana as many of those whose names appeared in the list appeared be related to high profile politicos.
On Monday, the police included the name of one Kiran Raju as accused no. 4 in the case of supply and consumption of drugs at the high profile pub.
He happens to be the son-in-law of senior Congress leader and former Union minister Renuka Chowdary.
He married Renuka’s daughter Tejaswini in 2012 and the couple have been a regular visitor to high-profile parties and events.
Initially, when the name of Tejaswini came out as the owner of the pub, Renuka issued a statement saying her daughter had nothing to do with the pub and she was not a partner of the pub.
But a day later, it was revealed that Tejaswini’s husband Kiran Raju was one of the partners in the pub and Renuka had no answer.
The police are trying to find out whether Kiran is actively running the pub or just a sleeping partner, which would be revealed during the investigation.
Renuka, however, sought to give a clean chit to Kiran Raju saying he was not there on the spot.
“He has been in the US for the past few days along with my daughter who is to undergo surgery shortly,” she told a newspaper, alleging that his name was included in the list only under political pressure.
Another arrested in the case Abhishek Vuppala, happens to be the son of BJP leader Vuppala Sarada, aspiring MLA from Khammam. Abhishek was charged with organising the drug-fuelled rave party.
Sharada claimed her son was innocent.
“He only organised the party as one of the pub partners which was taken on lease,” she said.
Another BJP leader and former MLA T Nandeshwar Goud also landed in trouble with the news about his son Ashish Goud’s involvement in the party. He said his son had nothing to do with either the party, or the drugs consumed there.
The name of Pradesh Congress Committee president and Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy’s nephew Pranay Reddy also figured in the list of the persons present in the party, giving a scope for the TRS leaders to lash out at the PCC chief.
Revanth said on Tuesday that the police could arrest his nephew and send him to test for drug consumption; and if found guilty, he could be thrown behind the bars.
“At the same time, blood samples of all those who attended the party should also be collected and tested,” he demanded.