Stampede at Mumbai rlY station, 10 HURT Humongous rush at the Bandra railway station in Mumbai on Sunday. At least 10 people were injured, including one critically, in a stampede when hundreds of people attempted to board a Gorakhpur-bound train to head to their native places for the upcoming Diwali and Chhath festival | PTI | P8 hyderabad l Monday l October 28, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI NDPS, excise cases against Jaishankar hard talk on no 26/11 govt retaliation KTR’s kin after midnight raid M AYA N K SI N G H @ New Delhi Police say 1 tested +ve for cocaine; KCR questions legality of search Raid aimed at silencing Oppn: KTR A j ay T o m a r @ Hyderabad Cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered on Sunday against Raj Pakala, brother-in-law of BRS working president KT Rama Rao, for organising a party in which one of the guests, Vijay Madduri, allegedly tested positive for cocaine. The Cyberabad Special Operations Team (SOT) and Excise officials raided a farmhouse in Janwada after receiving credible information about the consumption of prohibited drugs and foreign liquor at a party on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao contacted DGP Dr Jithender to question how the raids could be conducted without a search warrant. The farmhouse is owned by Pakala Rajendra Prasad, alias Raj Pakala, owner of ETG software company located at Nanakramguda. Vijay is the CEO of ETG and owner of Fusion Aix software company . The FIR said, “Vijay stated during interrogation, in the presence of a mediator, that he and Raj would occasionally meet for weekend gatherings where they used to consume drugs and gamble using poker chips. They have had a close relationship for five years. As a result, Raj invited Vijay to a Deepavali party at his newly E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad The liquor bottles seized during raid built house. Raj Pakala asked him (Vijay) to consume cocaine, which he had with him, and Vijay agreed and consumed cocaine.” A case was registered under Sections 25, 27 and 29 of the NDPS Act, along with Sections 3 and 4 of the Telangana Gaming Act, at Mokila police station against Madduri and Pakala. Additionally the Excise depart, ment’s Task Force filed a case under Section 34-A and Section 34(1) r/w 9 of the Excise Act against Pakala for serving alcohol without a licence. According to the FIR, after receiving a tip-off, the SOT and Excise officials arrived at Pakala’s farmhouse around 11.30 pm and found 16 women and 22 men socialising in separate groups. The police seized seven bottles of foreign liquor, 10 loose Indian liquor bottles and items related to gambling.  Continued on P4 BRS working president KT Rama Rao alleged that the raids on the residence of his brotherin-law, Raj Pakala, were part of a conspiracy to suppress the main Opposition’s voice. He stated that even if arrests were made, BRS leaders would persist in their fight against the Congress government. Speaking to reporters on Sunday Rama Rao said Pakala did , not invite relatives for his housewarming ceremony and hosted a Deepavali celebration at his new home. “Not a milligram of drugs was found during the raids,” he emphasised. He accused the Congress government of failing to implement the six guarantees and of involvement in many scandals, including the Musi and Amruth tenders and the Civil Supplies scam. “For the last 11 months, we, as the main opposition, have been exposing the failures of the government and cornering them on these issues without compromise. They cannot answer our questions and are now targeting our family members, filing cases to intimidate us,” he Continued on P4 claimed.  External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday did some hard talk on India’s reaction to the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attack, saying “there was no response”, but that would not be the case if it happens now. The strong language came just over three weeks before Maharashtra goes to polls on November 20. Speaking on India’s response to terrorism and what changed after 2014, Jaishankar said Mumbai is a symbol of counter-terrorism for India and the world. “We should not have a repeat of what happened in Mumbai. That there was a terror attack and there was no response.” He said things have changed now and India is now a leader in fighting terror. Jaishankar fielded questions on issues ranging from terrorism to the India-China stand-off and from investment to politics at a press conference in Mumbai. Reiterating the Modi government’s policy that talks and terror cannot go together, he said, “when we talk of zero tolerance against terror, it is clear that when somebody does something, there will be a response. “We also have to expose. It is not acceptable that you are doing business during daytime and indulging in terror during the night and I have to pretend that everything is okay .” When India was a member of the UN Security Council and chairing the counter-terrorism committee, the counter-terrorism panel’s meeting was held in the same hotel that was hit by the 26/11 terror attack, the minis- 50 flights, temple in Tirupati, many hotels get bomb threats U JW A L J A L A L I , N a m i ta B a j pa i & D Su r end r a K u m a r @ New Delhi/Lucknow/Tirupati The hoax bomb threat menace continued for the aviation industry on Sunday as more than 50 flights received calls, keeping security agencies on their toes. The Sri Varadaraja Swamy temple in Tirupati and a couple of hotels there, as also over a dozen prominent hotels in Lucknow received similar threats. Flights which received hoax bomb threats included 18 of IndiGo airlines, 17 of Vistara, and 15 of Akasa. Most of the threats were issued through social media posts. While this is the first time a bomb threat was sent to a temple in Tirupati, at least half a dozen hotels in the temple city received hoax bomb Tirupati police conducting searches at a hotel after a bomb threat | Express threats over the past three days. The Alipiri police received a mail regarding the bomb threat at the TTD-run temple. Bomb disposal teams and sniffer dogs were deployed at Hotel Renest and Pai Viceroy, situated near the Kapila Teertham circle, as well as the Sri Varadaraja Swamy temple. The e-mail threats again mentioned the alleged drug kingpin Jaffer Sadiq and the ISI. In Vijayawada, Hotel Taj Vivanta received a bomb threat. Inspector S S S V Nagaraju said extensive searches at the hotel revealed it was a hoax threat. Panic gripped Lucknow after nine prominent hotels received bomb threats demanding a ransom of `50 lakh on Sunday The . email, sent around 8.03 am, claimed that explosive devices had been planted in black bags across all the hotel premises. The sender warned that any attempt to defuse them would lead to mass casualties, prompting an emergency response. The Lucknow police roped in the Cyber Cell to trace the origin of the email, while bomb disposal and dog squads were deployed to begin large-scale evacuations. ter said. Without naming China, he said the disengagement of troops at Depsang and Demchok in Ladakh is the first step, adding it is expected that India will return to the pre-2020 patrolling status. He, however, stressed that the next step of de-escalation won’t be taken until India is assured of reciprocity from the other side. Speaking on Manipur, Jaishankar said there are complex reasons behind what is happening, noting that some factors are historical and the rest concern the border situation. E x p r e s s Re a d Phase-II of Hyd Metro to be ready in four years Hyderabad: The state government announced plans to complete the second phase of the Metro rail project in Hyderabad within four years. This phase will cover 76.4 km across five corridors. Following the state Cabinet’s approval of the DPR for these corridors, officials have begun the process of submitting the DPR to the Union government for approval. The estimated cost of the project is `24,269 crore | P3 10 TGSP personnel dismissed from service Ten personnel, including eight constables, one head constable and one ARSI, of the Telangana Special Police were dismissed from service on Sunday over alleged misconduct and incitement. Earlier in the day, the department issued suspension orders for 39 personnel, of whom two were also suspended in the latest order | P2