HYDERABAD: Tollywood director Krish Jagarlamudi, known for directing films such as Vedam, Kanche and Gamyam, was named as accused No. 10 in the Radisson Blu drugs case. News of the alleged involvement of Krish, director of actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s upcoming film Hari Hara Veera Mallu, has created ripples in the city and film fraternity.
Speaking to the media later, Krish clarified that he had attended the party to meet his friends on Saturday but had stayed there for only 30 minutes in the evening.
Stating that he had returned from the hotel at 6.45 pm, he shared that he had disclosed all the details to the police.
Meanwhile, as part of the investigation, the police have called on the director so that a medical examination can be conducted to check if he had consumed drugs or not. Madhapur DCP G Vineeth said, “He was part of the party; whether he consumed drugs or not is to be checked.”
Earlier, the police had arrested the son of BJP leader Yoganand, Gajjala Vivekanand and two others for allegedly consuming cocaine at a 10-member party on Saturday. Vivekanand was later granted bail. After conducting drug tests, the police said that Vivekanand, who is a director of the Manjeera Group of companies and also a director of the Radisson Blu hotel, had tested positive for cocaine.
Businesspersons Nirbhay and Kedhar, who were also apprehended by the police, had tested positive for drugs as well.
Following this, the police took into custody the alleged drug supplier Syed Abbas Ali Jaffri.
Son of BJP leader in regular contact with supplier: DCP
“While recording Abbas’ statement, we came to know that he was a former employee of Vivekanand. Although he quit working for him after the pandemic, Abbas confessed to having delivered drugs to Vivekanand multiple times before. All the deliveries were made to the same room no. 1,200 at the Radisson Blu hotel,” the DCP said.
Sharing that the interrogation process was still ongoing, Vineeth said that there appears to have been continuous transactions between Vivekanand and Abbas and each time, the latter is said to have supplied small quantities of drugs to the businessman.
With regards to the other accused involved in the case, the police said that the names of YouTubers — Lishi Ganesh and Swetha — came up during the investigation. “However, they are still absconding and have not lifted our calls,” said Gachibowli Station House Officer Jemes Babu.
“We have also reached out to Charan, another accused in the case. But he said that he is in Bengaluru currently,” he added.
In the wee hours of Saturday, the Gachibowli police received credible information that Vivekanand, along with his friends, was consuming drugs at a hotel. However, when the police reached the premises late in the night, the party was over and they found only three used plastic sachets of cocaine (each of one gram) and white paper rolls for usage of the drug.
The following morning, they arrested Vivekanand and interrogated him regarding the cocaine wrappers. They later learnt that the party, which started at around 12.30 pm on Saturday, witnessed the participation of 10 members — investors and mutual friends, some of whom are from the film industry. Throughout the evening, members of the party had slowly moved out of the hotel room, the police said.
Case to be registered against hotel: DCP
DCP Vineeth said that all of the accused persons would be asked to take the medical test to verify if they had consumed drugs or not. “We are also interrogating the accused to find the supplier chain and see who the regular members are,” he said.
“A case will also be registered against the hotel as they had provided the premises for a criminal offence,” the officer added.