Tollywood director moves Telangana HC for anticipatory bail in drugs case

Hyderabad, March 1: Tollywood director Krish has approached the Telangana High Court for anticipatory bail in the Radisson Hotel drugs case.

Krish filed a petition in the court denying his involvement in the case, which was busted by Cyberabad police on February 26. He claimed that he is being falsely implicated in the case.

The court, which took up hearing on the petition on Friday, directed Cyberabad police to submit details of the case and adjourned the hearing to March 4.

Police had named Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi, who is popularly known as Krish, as accused number 10 in the case.

It had said on Wednesday that the director was absconding and that a notice was served to him.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police G. Vineeth, when police contacted Krish and called him for a medical examination a few days ago, he had stated that he was in Mumbai and would come for the test. However, he later stopped responding to the police's calls.

Gajjala Vivekanand, director of Manjeera Group of Companies, was arrested in the case along with businessman Nirbhay Sindhi and film producer Kedhar on February 26.

Syed Abbas Ali Jaffri, who was allegedly supplying cocaine to Vivekanand, was arrested the next day.

Police found during the investigation that Jaffri, a former employee of Vivekanand, was getting the drugs from Mirza Waheed Baig. They added Baig and Vivekanand’s driver Gaddala Praveen as suspects in the case.

Vivekananda, son of BJP leader Gajjala Yoganand, had invited his friends to the party. Krish, model-cum-YouTuber Kallapu Lishi Ganesha, Raghu Charan, Sandeep, Neil, and Swetha had allegedly attended the party and consumed drugs using a paper roll in two rooms at the hotel.

Police said that they are all absconding. A couple of them have reportedly gone abroad. A case has been registered against all the accused under Sections 25, 29, and 27-A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at the Gachibowli Police Station.

The Special Operations Team- Cyberabad and Gachibowli Police had jointly conducted the operation on the night of February 25. Police said on receipt of credible information about consumption of drugs by Vivekanand with his friends, the police teams visited the hotel but by the time, all the guests left the place.

On examination of the premises, the police team found three used plastic sachets of cocaine (of one gram each) and white paper roll for the usage of drugs.

Based on further information, the police teams visited the house of Vivekanand and brought him to the police station. He was sent for medical examination and tested positive for the drug.