The accused were found partying at a flat in Vittal Rao Nagar, Madhapur, along with two women, who were allegedly promised roles in movies.
More names involved in these parties are likely to come out during further questioning of the accused, said the officials.
Officials said that they nabbed B. Balaji, 34, a former Indian Navy officer who was declared unfit following an eye injury, along with K. Venkataratna Reddy, 47, financier for Tollywood, and D. Murali, 42, a senior stenographer at Rail Nilayam, following a raid. Police seized contraband, including 2.8 grams cocaine, six LSD blots, 25 ecstasy pills, 20 grams of marijuana, two cars, five mobiles and ₹72,500 in cash from them.
Balaji is a native of Nellore who regularly comes to Hyderabad to party with his friends at the flat in Madhapur. Through the parties, he came in contact with drug peddlers in Hyderabad and Bangalore and started arranging the contraband for his friends and other known persons,” said the police.
After establishing direct links with Nigerian peddlers in Bangalore, he would throw parties in Hyderabad for customers and to some Tollywood personalities to earn easy money. “Preliminary probe revealed that he was purchasing drugs from four persons, including three Nigerian nationals from Bangalore, and a local from Visakhapatnam,” added the police.
It was also revealed that Venkataratna Reddy, is a film financier who financed big budget movies in Tollywood like Damarukam, Kick, Businessman, Lovely and Auto Nagar Surya. “He has been funding Balaji to procure drugs in bulk to organise parties and would also arrange women to come to the parties. Reddy invited two women for this party by assuring them roles in movies,” police said.
Officials close to the investigation shared that Balaji met Reddy through a Nigerian peddler and the duo have been hosting parties at the service apartment in Madhapur for a long time. “Balaji travels to Bangalore to purchase in bulk and packs them in smaller quantities to sell it among his circle. Further probe will reveal more names involved,” said the officials.
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Sean Hocking
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