Sadar Police carried out a midnight raid at Downtown Café on Mount Road and registered a case against nine persons, including the café owner and a staff member, for allegedly operating an illegal hookah parlour and serving banned tobacco-based hookah to customers.
The action was taken in the early hours of July 17 after police received a tip-off that prohibited hookah was being served at the café despite the statewide ban. A police team immediately conducted a raid at the premises.
During the operation, police allegedly found café owner Gaurav Shriram Bokde (33), a resident of Gyaneshwar Nagar, Ajni, and waiter Paresh Madan Sorte (19) of Lakadganj serving tobacco-based hookah to customers. Seven customers present at the café were also booked in the case.
Police seized hookah pots, flavoured tobacco products, two smart televisions, two speaker boxes, a digital video recorder (DVR) and other equipment worth around Rs 1.58 lakh. A case has been registered against all nine accused under relevant provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) and the Maharashtra Prohibition Act. Further investigation is in progress.
The raid was conducted under the supervision of Senior Police Inspector Dnyaneshwar Bhedodkar. Police Inspector Pawan Bhingardive, PSI Niketan Killedar and personnel Nilesh Londe, Amit Cheke, Ashish Bahal, Sandeep Shelke and Pankaj Tiwari participated in the operation.
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