Rave party at farmhouse in Bengaluru raided; 31 booked

Bengaluru: A rave party organised at a farmhouse on the outskirts of the city near Devanahalli was raided by police in the early hours of Sunday.

Thirty-one persons who attended the party, held to celebrate the birthday of a 26-year-old private firm employee, were booked. Cops found 3 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of hydro-ganja, 60 grams of hashish, and a small quantity of ganja in the possession of four of the 31.

The birthday was of Maza Sharif, a resident of Banaswadi and operations manager at a private firm. The farmhouse owner — Syed Asad, a resident of Shivajinagar — had rented it to Sharif, who contacted him by seeing an Internet advertisement. The attendees, aged between 24 and 30, are all friends of Sharif and residents of Sarjapur Road, Varthur, Ramamurthy Nagar, and other areas. The party began Saturday night.

The raid took place under the supervision of DCP (North-East) Sajeeth VJ, after police received a tip-off from villagers around 4.30am. A team of cops rushed to the farmhouse in Kannamangala village around 5am. There were 24 men and seven women at the party. A few peddlers also were in attendance.

Cops have taken the blood and urine samples of all 31 booked, and sent them to Bowring Hospital and the forensic science laboratory. "We're awaiting the results to ascertain how many of the attendees consumed the drugs. All 31 are being questioned by Devanahalli police. A case has been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act," Sajeeth said.

A senior officer said the peddlers would be booked under Section 20B, the consumers under 27B, and the facilitator (farmhouse owner) under Section 25 of the NDPS Act. Police confirmed there were no celebrities at the party. The drugs seized were whatever was left over. Probe is on to find out where they were sourced from.