HYDERABAD: The Cyberabad police on Tuesday conducted searches at the Jubilee Hills residence of Vijay Madduri, a guest who reportedly tested positive for cocaine during raids at a party in a Janwada farmhouse on Saturday.
The farmhouse is owned by Raj Pakala, the brother-in-law of BRS working president KT Rama Rao.
While the Cyberabad police remained tight-lipped over the details of the search, a source from the Cyberabad police told TNIE: “He (Madduri) did not appear after we called him for questioning yesterday. Today, we did not call him and got a search warrant issued under Section 185 of the BNSS for further investigation.”
Section 185 of BNSS gives power to the police to conduct searches when they believe necessary evidence may be found at a specific location.
It is believed that the police were at Madduri’s house to confiscate his phone. He initially submitted a woman’s phone to the police instead of his own to conceal information after which the woman intimated the same to the police. The police recorded the woman’s statement and are said to have returned the phone to her after high court’s permission.
Earlier, the police had issued notices under Section 35(3) of BNSS to Madduri and Pakala, asking them to appear for questioning on Monday morning. However,Pakala got an interim relief after HC asked the Mokila police to not take any coercive action on KTR’s kin till October 30. A source in the police had earlier told TNIE that currently they were recording the statements of other attendees, including guests and staff, and probing who brought the cocaine and provided it to the accused.