Kamal Ghorui
HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh’s sitting TDP MP Putta Mahesh Kumar tested positive Sunday for the banned substance methamphetamine (meth) in a blood test ordered after what investigators allege was an attempt to dodge a drug screening at a farmhouse party raided by Hyderabad Police the previous night, reports Srinath Vudali. The Eluru MP’s test result took the number of high-profile guests failing drug checks at the Moinabad property, owned by former Tandur MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy of BRS, to six out of 11. Delhi-based businessman Namith Sharma, whose urine samples were found to contain traces of cocaine during Saturday’s raid, has also been charged with attempt-to-murder and assault.MP faked drug test with water sample during farmhouse bustHe has been booked under sections 109 and 131 of the BNS for firing at police with a .32 revolver belonging to Rohith’s brother Rithesh Reddy Pajugula. Apart from Rohith and MP Mahesh Kumar, those accused of substance abuse are Rithesh, Namith, businessman Tiruveedula Arjun Reddy and advocate Kaushik Ravi. “All 11 people at the farmhouse party have been charged with violation of the Telangana Prohibition Act. We have invoked the NDPS Act against the six who have tested positive (for meth or cocaine). Three of them — Namith, Rohith and Rithesh — additionally stand accused of violating the Arms Act,” Moinabad DCP Yogesh Gautham said. Rohith, Namith and Rithesh have been arrested while Mahesh Kumar and the other two guests received bail. They have all been asked to visit a deaddiction centre, an official said. During Saturday night’s drug bust, MP Mahesh Kumar cleared the urine test after allegedly filling his sample cup with water from the washroom instead of urine. “A blood test conducted Sunday revealed meth. The same test confirmed substance abuse by the other five who tested positive for cocaine,” said SP R Girdhar of the state’s Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement (EAGLE). CM N Chandrababu Naidu ordered an internal inquiry by TDP, with instructions to Mahesh Kumar to stay away from party events “until the matter is clarified”, sources said. MP has contested the allegations and said he will “come out clean”. BRS working president KT Rama Rao said he was willing to undergo a drug test at any time, responding to Telangana PCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud’s demand that all public representatives be put through such checks. Saturday night’s raid involved a team from EAGLE and Future City Police scaling the boundary wall of the Moinabad farmhouse — around 30km from Hyderabad — to find the high-profile gathering on couches around a swimming pool, allegedly surrounded by hookah pots, liquor and drugs. Police seized about two grams of a white substance. They suspect a portion of the drugs was flushed. A packet confiscated from Rohith’s driver Sharath Kumar has been sent for forensic examination. Investigators believe both cocaine and meth were used at the party. The seized drug was allegedly brought by Kaushik from Shimla through a contact.
