Pune: Police on Thursday claimed of recovering photos and videos in hidden files from 41-year-old Pranjal Khewalkar’s cellphone. Khewalkar, son-in-law of former state minister Eknath Khadse, and six others were arrested by a team of Pune police following a drug seizure from a studio flat in Kharadi, where they were found partying on Sunday.Khewalkar, Nikhil Popatani (35) of Hadapsar, Sameer Fakir Mohammad Sayyed (41) of NIBM Road, Sachin Bhombe (42) of Wagholi and Shripad Yadav (27) of Akurdi were produced before Judicial Magistrate (First Class) N S Bari on Thursday afternoon. The court has sent them to judicial custody.The prosecution told the court that they found several photographs and videos in the hidden files in Khewalkar’s cellphone. Police also claimed of finding many ‘objectionable’ chats in his phone.The crime branch of Pune police busted the house drug party after raiding a service apartment suite around 4.30am on Sunday. Police found 2.5g of cocaine and 70g of marijuana at the spot and invoked the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The police custody of the five men ended on Thursday.Police said cyber experts and investigations revealed that the accused knew each other for the past two years. Khewalkar hosted the parties in different hotels previously.The name of the person who prepared the hookah and drugs for the party had been obtained by the police, and efforts were being made to trace him, police told the court. Police also informed the court that the suspects communicated with each other using messaging services of a social media site.The defence lawyers claimed that based on the quantity of the seized substances, the NDPS Act did not apply in the case.
