Here is why Banjara Hills SHO was suspended after pub raid

Hyderabad: The midnight raid at Hyderabad's elite pub, Pudding & Mink, on 3 April, which led to the seizure of five grams of cocaine and detention of over 150 persons, has created a flutter in the twin cities. However, what also caught people's attention was the Hyderabad police commissioner's quick move to suspend Banjara Hills state house officer (SHO) P. Shiva Chandra. The suspension has left the internet divided.

Many netizens took to social media to question the Hyderabad police chief's move to suspend the SHO. A few alleged that he was suspended because the VIP club was raided.

It should be noted that among the 150 detained were Mega family member and Tollywood actress Niharika Konedila, singer and Big Boss winner Rahul Sipligunj, former Congress MP's son Arvind Kumar Yadhav, TDP MP's son Siddartha Galla, kin of a senior IPS officer serving in Andhra Pradesh, and many other businessmen, besides four foreign nationals.

A senior IPS officer, who is part of the case investigation, told NewsMeter, "The SHO was suspended because, despite repeated meetings and directions from Chief Minister K. Chandra Shekar Rao and Hyderabad CP C.V Anand, he failed to curb drug menace and violations by pubs within his jurisdiction. When a fleet of cars was touring the city during the wee hours, the Banjara Hills police should have kept a close eye. The location is not too far from the station. The SHO's failure and lack of alertness has led to his suspension and the memo issued to the assistant commissioner of police."

The raid was executed by Hyderabad Task force police assigned for special operations and not law and order police of Banjara Hills. Meanwhile, inspector K. Nageshwar Rao has been posted as the new SHO of Banjara Hills station.

It is pertinent to note that the raids come a month after the north zone task force conducted a recce. The sleuths gathered leads from the ground about high-end expensive cars stationed late at night at certain pubs.

How cops detected 5 grams of cocaine at Pudding and Mink

The police received credible information that Pudding & Mink, the pub at Radisson Blu Hotel on Road No. 6, Banjara Hills, was open at 1:40 a.m and that there was a huge crowd and some guests were also doing drugs.

Upon receiving the tip-off, the task force along with the local police raided Pudding & Mink at 2 a.m and found more than 100 persons consuming liquor on the premises. After inspection, five small packets containing white powder suspected to be cocaine were found in one of the plastic containers used to hold drinking straws on the bar counter.

The Banjara Hills police filed a case under sections 8(c), 22(b), and 29(1) of the NDPS Act against three people. Hotel manager Anil Kumar and Abhishek Vuppala were arrested. Arjun Veeramachineni is currently absconding. While a case has been registered at Banjara Hills police station, the investigation will be taken up by the Jubilee Hills police station.

According to the police, the partners of Pudding & Mink allow only an elite few customers and their guests access to their pub. They run the pub till the early hours. The pub has an app that generates a code for each customer and the customers can access the pub only by entering the code at the main entrance.