3 Gurugram cafe employees held for serving hookahs

Three employees of two cafes in Gurugram were arrested for serving hookahs to guests at a mall in Sector 53. Nine flavoured hookahs were seized and sent for testing. The cafes had violated laws banning hookahs.

In a joint raid of the chief minister’s flying squad and drug control department, three employees of two cafes were arrested on Friday for allegedly serving hookahs to their guests at a mall in Sector 53, police officials aware of the matter said.

Officials have sent the recovered liquid flavours and hookahs to a laboratory for testing. (Representational image)

Police said nine flavoured hookahs were seized from the cafe, they added.

Officials have sent the recovered liquid flavours and hookahs to a laboratory for testing.

Police said that they received multiple complaints for the last few days, and a special police team was formed to conduct a raid late on Thursday night, said police.

Amandeep Chauhan, drug control officer of Gurugram, said they raided a café at the mall following a tip-off. They were infirmed that the cafe was serving nicotine-based hookahs containing tobacco molasses. “During the raid we found that five hookahs were kept on the table of the guests. During the search of premises, we also found flavoured tobacco molasses containing nicotine. We asked the managers to produce valid licence and documents to serve hookah, but they failed,” he said.

Nine hookahs with tubes, eight boxes of coconut pure coal and huge quantities of tobacco molasses were recovered from the spot, said police.

A case was registered against eight people, including the partners of the cafes, under the Punjab Poison Possession and Sales Rules 1966, Drugs Cosmetics Act 1940 and Rules 1945 and sections of Indian Penal Code at Sector 53 police station on Friday, said police.

Deputy superintendent of police (crime) Inderjeet Yadav said the Gurugram district administration has already banned serving of hookahs but the café did not comply with the laws. “Two outlets were open till late in the night and customers were being provided hookahs of different flavours on demand, and were charged between ₹900 and ₹1,000. We are questioning the suspects while raids are being conducted to arrest others suspects”, he said.

Police said that until 2016, hookahs were served with tobacco molasses, which were banned by the Punjab and Haryana high court.

In February 2017, the district administration enforced Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to ban hookah bars in the city. The move came with a view to make the city nicotine-free.