BRS leader Rama Rao’s kin Raj Pakala appears before police in drugs case

Hyderabad: BRS working president K T Rama Rao’s brother-in-law Raj Pakala appeared before the police here on Wednesday in connection with a case registered against him following a raid at his “farmhouse” near here.

Raj Pakala, who threw a party at the farmhouse in which one of the guests allegedly tested positive for cocaine, was booked along with the other under relevant sections of the NDPS Act and under the Telangana Gaming Act.

After Mokila police served a notice to Raj Pakala asking him to appear before them for questioning in the case, he had approached the Telangana High Court.

The court on October 28 restrained the police from taking coercive steps against Raj Pakala in the case while directing him to appear before the police in two days and cooperate with the investigation.

Raj Pakala in his petition had contended that the case was registered to tarnish the image and for extraneous considerations to target the family members of Rama Rao.

According to police, following an 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.

However, Raj Pakala had asserted that recently he shifted his residence at Janwada and hosted a house warming ceremony for his close friends and relatives on October 26.

A separate case was registered against Raj Pakala for violation of the Excise Act.

The incident kicked up a political slugfest between the ruling Congress in Telangana and the BRS.