Police raid 2 restaurants in Amritsar; 7 held, 15 hookahs recovered

Launching a crackdown against illegal hookah bars, Amritsar Police conducted raids on two popular restaurants in the posh Ranjit Avenue area on Saturday night

Launching a crackdown against illegal hookah bars, Amritsar Police conducted raids on two popular restaurants in the posh Ranjit Avenue area on Saturday night.

The police have arrested seven persons, including owners and managers of the two restaurants. (HT Photo)

The police have also arrested seven persons, including owners and managers of the two restaurants—Egyptian restaurant and Tamzara Nights restaurant. The police have also recovered 15 hookahs, 10 hookah flavours, 22 bottles of English Wine.

Those arrested from the Egyptian restaurant are identified as Kosirodh Chander (manager), Abhishek and Yashpal. Similarly, those arrested from the Tamzara Nights restaurant are Lovish Sharma (owner), Saini (Manager), Gurinder Singh and Raman Kumar.

A team led-by assistant commissioner of police (ACP-north), Varinder Singh Khosa had conducted the raids at around 1am. During the raids, the customers were found to be consuming hookahs and drinking alcohol. The wine was found to be illegal.

Khosa said, “No illegal hookah bars will be allowed to run in Amritsar. All the arrested accused have been booked under the relevant Sections of Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act, and Sections 61-1-14 of the Excise Act.”