Hyd drugs racket: Cong demands impartial probe

The opposition Congress in Telangana today said an impartial and thorough probe should be conducted in the drugs case unearthed here recently.
The investigators should not yield to any pressure from any quarter in the case in which some film personalities are also being questioned, the party said.
The state Excise department on July 2 exposed a racket selling high-end narcotics like LSD and MDMA and has so far arrested 13 persons.
Congress MLA T Ram Mohan Reddy, Deputy Leader of Congress in state Legislative Council P Sudhakar Reddy and other party leaders met RV Chandravadan, Excise Commissioner, and submitted a memorandum to the effect.

"I request the officials of the department to conduct the inquiry impartially, in a free and fair manner and without yielding to the pressures from any corner, in the wake of the freedom given by Chief Minister (K Chandrasekhar Rao)," Sudhakar Reddy said.
Rao on Sunday directed police and excise officials to step up the investigation into the case and not spare anyone.

The Congress leaders also asked the excise department to conduct counselling for students, who are addicted to drugs, and also their parents.
The film personalities should be "educated" on the menace, they said.
During investigation, it has come to light that students of some high-profile private schools were addicted to drugs.

As part of the probe, 'Pokiri' fame film director Puri Jagannadh today appeared before the Excise department's SIT after the department last week issued notices under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, to 12 Tollywood personalities, including actors, directors and producers, asking them to appear before the SIT.