Mumbai rave party: 'Why was event manager spared?'

A special court today came down heavily on the Mumbai Police for its probe of the Juhu rave party, where 92 people including two IPL players were rounded up after a raid.

The court asked police to file an affidavit by Saturday, stating names of the officers who conducted the raid and name of the officer who decided to allow the party-guests to go home after the medical tests.

The special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act court was hearing anticipatory bail pleas filed by two disc jockey who tested positive for consumption of drugs at the party.

Police had said that the DJs, Deepesh Sharma and Rakesh Sharma, were a part of the conspiracy to organise the party and distribute the drugs. "In a rave party, music plays an important role, and the music entices to consume drugs," the prosecutor argued.

Advocate Rizwan Merchant, counsel for the duo, denied the allegations.

"Why the summons were sent almost a month later when they could have been arrested from the spot?" Judge G A Sanap asked. The court also asked why event manager Surya Prakash was not arrested.

"The event manager is supposed to be the key person and he organises the event and if something goes wrong, the event manager is to be blamed," the judge said. "Why is he spared? Why he was not sent for blood test and not even named as an accused in the case? Why is the police protecting him?"

The court also asked police to furnish evidence to prove that the two DJs were aware of drug consumption at the party.

The case will now come up on Monday for order.

Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik had said earlier that 44 people had tested positive. The results of others, including IPL cricketers Wayne Parnell and Rahul Sharma, were awaited.

On May 20, police had raided Hotel Oakwood in suburban Juhu, and rounded up 92 people. A day later, police also arrested Vishay Handa, the director of the hotel, who was granted bail by the NDPS court.