HP High Court Orders Transfer of Three Officers, SIT Probe After Rave Parties in Kasol Yielded Drug Deaths and Police Inaction

The Himachal Pradesh High Court found the Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, and two police officers to have colluded with organisers of large-scale rave parties at Kasol's Parvati Valley, directing their transfer within a week and a Special Investigating Team probe.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court, on 24 June 2026, directed the State government to transfer, within one week, the Deputy Commissioner of Kullu, the Superintendent of Police of Kullu, and the Superintendent of Police of Mandi, after finding that all three officers had failed in their duties and had apparently colluded in the organisation of commercial rave parties at Kasol in Parvati Valley. The Division Bench, led by Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and comprising Justice Bipin C. Negi and Justice Tarun Singh, also directed the lodging of an FIR, the constitution of a Special Investigating Team that must include an IPS-cadre officer posted at Kullu, and the initiation of departmental proceedings against the three officials. A Russian national who had worked as a disc jockey at the event was suspected to have died of a drug overdose, and two tourists were arrested in possession of cocaine and LSD. The matter was listed for compliance on 6 August 2026.

The Rave Party Dispute Before the High Court

The batch of matters before the court has a long history. CWPIL No. 13 of 2015 was taken up on the court's own motion, and CWPIL No. 27 of 2017 dealt with NDPS-related questions in the State. CWPIL No. 53 of 2025 was registered after the Himalayan Environment Protection Society, Kullu, brought to the court's notice that rave parties were being held at Kasol, Jibhi, Manali and other parts of Kullu under the garb of tourism. Entry tickets for these events ranged from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 7,00,000, and videos showing openly available drugs were circulating online. The court had, as far back as 15 July 2025, framed specific questions for the State: how many FIRs had been lodged in Mandi and Kullu relating to rave parties, whether organisers had been identified, whether their incomes had been inquired into, and whether property confiscation or attachment had been initiated.

On 5 May 2026, the affidavit of the Superintendent of Police, Mandi, was found by the court not to inspire confidence, and a fresh affidavit was directed. No affidavit had been filed at all by the Superintendent of Police, Kullu.

During the court vacation, on 9 June 2026, the Vacation Bench noticed newspaper reports that thousands of revellers had gathered at Mini Israel in Kasol and that a rave culture had returned to Parvati Valley. Events billed as “Green Forest-I” and “Green Forest-II” at Grahan, Kasol, ran from 7 June to 11 June 2026, with participants arriving from Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, Delhi, Chandigarh, and overseas, including Israel, paying between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 16,000 per head.

Sound Permission Granted Despite an Adverse Police Report

The facts that emerged before the bench revealed a sequence the court described as an “abject surrender” by the district administration. The organizers, identified as Yashpal and Ishwar Singh, had obtained sound permissions from the Sub-Divisional Magistrate on 6 June 2026. This was done despite the existence of a report dated 5 June 2026 by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Headquarters, Kullu, which had been forwarded to the SDM before the permissions were issued.

That DSP report was explicit. It noted that the venue at Grahan, Kasol, was situated approximately 5.5 to 6 kilometres from Kasol market, in an isolated forest-surrounded area accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicles. The anticipated gathering was 3,000 to 3,500 persons. The DSP's report acknowledged that, given the nature and location of the event, “the possibility of consumption or trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, as well as other unlawful activities by unscrupulous elements, cannot be ruled out entirely.” It further noted that limited manpower at Police Station Manikaran made continuous surveillance impractical. The SDM granted the sound permission the very next day.

The Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, who visited the spot on 9 June 2026 on the Vacation Bench's directions, found the event had already been running. The site had been set up with a large stage and a DJ enclosure, a high-decibel sound system, 50 camping tents, 10 to 15 CCTV cameras on the periphery, and refrigerators stocked with beer and ice. The capacity of the combined Green Forest venues was estimated at 4,000 to 5,000 persons. The time table displayed at the venue showed events running from 7 PM to 11 PM, exceeding the 10 PM limit stipulated in the sound permission.

Items recovered from the venue included empty liquor bottles and beer bottles for which no excise permit existed, cigarette butts, rolling papers, and “perfect rolls” — materials used to mix cannabis with tobacco. The DLSA Secretary directed that the DVR recording from the CCTV installation be preserved; the DVR was handed over to ASI Param Chand of Police Station Manikaran. Two tourists were arrested at the spot in possession of cocaine and LSD. One foreign national, Daria Kuzminykh, a Russian citizen who had served as the DJ at the event, was suspected to have died of a drug overdose, and a post-mortem was recommended. Two FIRs, numbered 49 and 50 of 2026, were registered.

How the Bench Reasoned

The court's reasoning was unsparing. The sound permission had been granted on 6 June 2026 notwithstanding a clear adverse recommendation from the DSP. It was only after the Vacation Bench intervened on 9 June 2026 that police reached the venue on the nights of 9 and 10 June 2026 and the parties were stopped. Without that judicial intervention, the court held, the events would have run uninterrupted from 7 to 11 June 2026.

The compliance affidavit of the Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, Anurag Chander Sharma, sought to justify matters on the ground that no permission for “rave parties” as such had been granted under the name of tourism, and that permission was cancelled on 10 June 2026 once drug use was confirmed. The DC also argued that excessive restrictions on tourism stakeholders would harm the economy, and pointed to Standard Operating Procedures issued on 5 May 2026 for the organisation of party events.

The court did not find these justifications persuasive. It observed that when commercial events are organised on payment of high entry fees for 4,000 to 5,000 persons, the commercial character is self-evident. It was “difficult” for the court to accept that such events could be organised without the connivance of the local administration. The post-event measures — raids on 9 June, random sampling directions from the SP, deployment of medical officers — were characterised as a knee-jerk reaction undertaken only because the Vacation Bench had directed action.

The Superintendent of Police, Kullu's affidavit claimed no CCTV cameras were found functional at the site, which the court noted directly contradicted the DLSA Secretary's report establishing that the DVR had been recovered and preserved. The SP had also sought additional personnel only on 12 June 2026, after the event was already over, despite the adverse DSP report being available from 5 June 2026.

On the materials before it, the bench concluded that all three officials — the SDM, the Deputy Commissioner, and the Superintendent of Police, Kullu — had failed in their duty to maintain public order and had instead facilitated the organisation of large-scale rave parties. The court also took note of the separate compliance affidavit filed by the Superintendent of Police, Mandi, which reported 653 FIRs under the NDPS Act in District Mandi between 2021 and 2026, and noted that 340 tip-offs received through the “Drug-Free Himachal App” between 1 January 2026 and 3 June 2026 had been forwarded to police stations. The court was not currently focused on Mandi district, but the affidavit formed part of the broader picture of the State's claimed anti-drug efforts.

The bench directed that the investigation must be conducted by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police, keeping in mind the specific queries framed in the order dated 15 July 2025. The investigation was to probe whether there was tacit permission from the authorities and collusion in the commercial organisation of the events and large-scale drug consumption.

Outcome

The High Court directed the State to take the following steps. Within one week from 24 June 2026, the Deputy Commissioner of Kullu, the Superintendent of Police of Kullu, and the Superintendent of Police of Mandi are to be transferred. The State is thereafter to lodge an FIR, constitute a Special Investigating Team — which must include an IPS-cadre Superintendent of Police posted to Kullu as part of the SIT — and initiate departmental proceedings against the three officers. The court additionally directed that the investigation into collusion between officials and organisers must be conducted by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police. The matter has been listed for compliance on 6 August 2026.