Hyderabad: Claiming to be a ‘national level’ tennis player, a 27-year-old railway employee, P Siddarth, who was arrested on alleged drug peddling charges by the Mokila police on March 29, has sought bail, stating his sports background and lack of criminal antecedents. However, a local court dismissed his petition after the prosecution alleged that he has been indulging in drug peddling since 2023 and the contraband was seized from his personal vehicle. Siddarth is currently in judicial remand.Siddarth, who has been working as a superintendent with the railways in Secunderabad, along with two of his associates, Ch Himanth Krishna Vamshi, 30, a businessman from Nizampet, and A Vishnu Teja, 36, a businessman from Nacharam, was arrested by Future City Special Operations Team (SOT) sleuths along with the Mokila police at Janwada on March 23 afternoon, while the trio was travelling in Siddarth’s sedan.Police seized 39.72 grams of cocaine and 2.36 grams of ganja from the possession of the accused. Mokila police have cited Siddarth as a peddler, Vamshi as the middleman and Teja as a consumer. “On interrogation, Siddarth confessed that the contraband was supplied by a Goa-based peddler. Our team is trying to locate the supplier,” an investigator said.In the first week of April, Siddarth moved a petition before the local court in LB Nagar seeking bail. Siddarth’s counsel stated that his client was falsely implicated in the case and he has no criminal antecedents. “Petitioner is a tennis player and he played for state and national level for India. He secured a job in the railways. He was never involved in the present case,” the defence counsel stated.The assistant public prosecutor alleged that Siddarth was the main supplier and kingpin in the case. “The accused has been continuously engaged in drug activities since 2023. The investigation is ongoing to identify suppliers, consumers and other associates,” the public prosecutor said, while requesting the court dismiss the petition.After hearing the arguments, the court dismissed the petition while observing that the quantity of the seized drugs was greater than ‘small quantity’ and if the accused was released on bail, “there is every likelihood of him repeating the similar offence or absconding and causing hurdle to the investigation”.Among the other two accused, Teja was granted bail in the second week of April and Vamshi’s bail plea is being heard. “Siddarth is a tennis player, who also played for the railways. It is sad that he ended up in a web of dealing narcotics. He also moved a bail petition in high court. We will file a counter,” a Mokila police officer said.
