Banned hookahs, nicotine boxes recovered from confectionary shop
A 29-year-old man was arrested in Faridabad for selling banned hookahs from his confectionary shop. Police recovered a large quantity of illegal hookah-related items. The man had been selling hookahs secretly for several months. This was the first raid since the ban on commercial hookah use in the district.
Faridabad police arrested a 29-year-old man on Wednesday from NIT area for allegedly selling banned hookahs from his confectionary shop over the past several months.
Police said their teams are on high alert during the festival season to keep a check on illegal sales of banned firecrackers, spurious liquor, hookahs and other items, besides gambling parties. (Representational image)
Police recovered 309 boxes of nicotine, tobacco, seven hookahs, 30 chillams (a water pipe that contains the substance to be smoked, such as tobacco or hashish), 100 coils, 35 hookah pipes and 24 boxes of charcoal.
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Amit Yashwardhan, deputy commissioner of police (NIT), said they had received a tip-off on Wednesday and they formed a team and conducted a raid at the confectionary shop. “The owner, identified as Savan Kumar, a resident of NIT, had set up a shop on the ground floor of his house. He was selling banned hookahs secretly for the past several months and used to charge ₹4,500 for a big hookah and ₹1,500 for smaller ones,” he said.
Yashwardhan said the number of customers had increased ahead of Diwali as people have started organising parties and the demand gets high during the festival season. “He stored all the illegal and banned items inside a room, which he keeps locked. On the pretext of selling confectionaries, he was selling nicotine, flavours for hookahs and all sizes of hookahs,” he said.
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Police said their teams are on high alert during the festival season to keep a check on illegal sales of banned firecrackers, spurious liquor, hookahs and other items, besides gambling parties.
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Police said their teams are on high alert during the festival season to keep a check on illegal sales of banned firecrackers, spurious liquor, hookahs and other items, besides gambling parties.
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Yashwardhan said this was the first such raid after the imposition of the ban on the commercial use of hookah in the district. It was conducted following complaints and reports of sale of the material used in hookah bars.
A case under Section 270 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 4, 5, 21,22 of COTPA ACT 2003 and Sections 2,5,6 of Poison Act 1913 was registered at Kotwali police station on Wednesday, said police.
Police said that hookahs, earlier served with tobacco molasses at bars, were banned by the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2016. The Faridabad administration enforced Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to ban hookah bars in the district in February 2017 with the aim of making the region nicotine-free.
Leena Dhankhar is Senior Editor and Bureau Chief, Gurugram, at Hindustan Times, where she has spent over 17 years chronicling the transformation of one of India's fastest-growing urban regions. From starting her career as a crime reporter to leading the Gurugram bureau, her journalism has been defined by investigative reporting, in-depth storytelling and an unwavering focus on public interest.
Over nearly two decades, she has reported extensively across crime, politics, civic governance, elections, real estate, environment, courts, sports, education and entertainment, covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh and Palwal. Her reporting has exposed several major scams and systemic failures, including insurance frauds, waste management irregularities, illegal arms manufacturing units in Nuh, illegal mining in the Aravallis, organised crime networks and governance lapses affecting millions of residents.
Known for her investigative work and exclusive stories, Leena has reported on high-impact national issues, including the Nicaragua charter flight carrying Indian migrants that was turned back amid allegations of human trafficking, exposing the growing network of illegal immigration rackets. Her work has also focused on gang wars, prison administration, juvenile crime, women and child protection systems, the functioning of the Juvenile Justice Board and Child Welfare Committee, and environmental challenges such as pollution, waterlogging and deteriorating civic infrastructure.
Beyond hard news, Leena has extensively documented Haryana's rich heritage, forests and wildlife, bringing attention to the state's historical landmarks, biodiversity, conservation efforts and ecological challenges through immersive reportage and feature writing.
Her journalism has consistently gone beyond breaking news. She has documented Gurugram's rapid urbanisation through long-form narratives and enterprise reporting on issues ranging from pothole-ridden roads, flooding and waste management to the changing social fabric of India's Millennium City. She also writes widely read feature columns, including The Outsider, Changemaker, and Concern for Gurugram, profiling people, places and ideas shaping the city's identity.
Leena is the author of Gurugram School Murder, published by Juggernaut Books, a deeply reported account of one of India's most high-profile school murder investigations. She is currently working on her second book, an investigative work exploring some of India's most significant scams and fraud investigations.
Beyond print journalism, she has expanded her storytelling through public speaking and digital media. She is a TEDx speaker and has produced podcasts exploring Gurugram's transformation, civic challenges and untold stories. Her work reflects a commitment to narrative journalism that combines rigorous reporting with compelling storytelling.
A law graduate with an MBA in Human Resources, Leena brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her reporting, particularly on governance, public policy and legal affairs. She has travelled extensively across India to pursue investigative assignments, often reporting from remote locations and conflict-prone areas in search of stories that matter.
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