Rave Party Raided In Remote Forest

May 30th, 2009
Tribune News Service
By: Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala

Some residents have revived efforts to organise rave parties that are famous for drug abuse by foreign tourists. The police has thwarted the efforts of some residents of Bhagsunag to organise a rave party in the Rait area of Kangra district.

Enquiries by The Tribune have revealed that a local from Bhagsunag who is running a guest house there had organised it. It was a three-day party that was to start from May 28. He had collected Rs 600 as entry fee from each foreign tourist who wanted to be part of the party. The sources at Bhagsunag said about 150 foreign tourists, most of them from Israel, had deposited the entry fee for the party.

The venue of the party was a hill top in remote forest of Rait area of Kangra district. Drugs, beer and wine were arranged for the three-day party with the help of some local suppliers.

Most of the foreign tourists left for the party on May 28 with local taxi operators. The impact could be felt at tourist places like Bhagsunag and Mcleodganj as large numbers of foreign tourists left for the party leaving the said places deserted.

All could have gone well but the police got information and descended on the scene yesterday. Some of the locals who were present at the party said they fled through the hills to save themselves from the police. However, the foreigners failed to escape.

The police personnel gave a mild thrashing to some of them. However, most of them were allowed to go scot free as nothing incriminating was recovered from them. However, the police arrested Tibetan Tashi, a resident of Mcleodganj, who had supplied drugs, especially charas, for the party.

SP Kangra Atul Fulzele when contacted said 320 gm of charas had been recovered from Tashi. A case under NDPS act has been registered against him.

When asked about the foreign participants in the party, he said they found 80 of them in the party. Most of them were from Israel and a few from Australia. ‘We are writing to their embassies regarding their alleged involvement in illegal drug parties. However, no legal action was being taken against them,’ he said.

The sources said the police was also looking for two locals of Bhagsunag who had arranged the party.

Later, many foreigners who were part of the party fearing police action were in a hurry to leave the the area.