Tollywood drug case: TS HC issues contempt notices to CS, Excise Director

Hyderabad: Taking a serious note of the state government's failure in furnishing necessary information in the Tollywood drug case, Telangana High Court on Thursday issued notices to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and Prohibition and Excise Director Sarfaraz Ahmed.

The court asked them to respond within 10 days to the contempt plea filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Tollywood drug case.

The court adjourned the matter till April 25. The contempt petition was filed by the Enforcement Directorate stating that the state government and the P&E SIT Director had not furnished the information it had sought despite a clear order from the court.

The bench headed by Justice Satish Chandra Sharma on February 19, 2022, directed the CS and the SIT Director to furnish all the information, including the 12 FIRs, charge­sheets, and the call data record of the accused in the drugs cases involving Tollywood personalities registered in 2017.

The ED told the court that the state government has violated the orders. The ED alleged that the state government was not handing over the data of the call records of the accused in the case and digital records. The ED urged the HC to take action against the CS and the Excise Department Commissioner under the contempt of court Act.

The order was given by the bench disposing of a PIL petition filed by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president A. Revanth Reddy seeking an investigation by central agencies into drug cases registered in 2017.

The bench said then that the ED can approach the HC if the required information was not furnished by the State government authorities. A month after the HC order, the ED filed the contempt plea stating that the P&E authorities did not respond to its letter to furnish information about the 2017 drugs cases despite the HC order. This amounted to contempt of the court, the ED authorities said in the petition.