Labour and Woman and Child Development Minister Ch. Malla Reddy’s younger brother was booked by the Hyderabad police on Wednesday for organising card games and a liquor party at a private property at Bowenpally in violation of COVID-19 safety guidelines. Any sort of gambling/card games are banned in Telangana.
Acting on a tip-off, the Commissioner’s Task Force (north zone) team raided the premises located near Malla Reddy Gardens around 2.15 p.m. and were shocked to see the Minister’s brother Ch. Narasimha Reddy. Later, they found that Narasimha Reddy was the organiser of the ‘makeshift gambling club’ which was running for months now.
The police team found cards, a huge quantity of liquor, cooked mutton and other material provided to the ‘players’ by the organiser. They seized ₹ 1.40 lakh in cash from13 persons
“We were shocked to see the ambiance there. It is like a makeshift gaming club with food and liquor for the players,” an officer said.
Narasimha Reddy also dropped the Minister’s name and asked the policemen to leave the premises as they were ‘just relaxing’ during lockdown. However, the officers cordoned off the premises, seized the available material and handed over them to the Bowenpally police, who registered cases under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code, Disaster Management Act and Telangana State Gaming Act, and served notices to the accused.
