Gurugram club raided for illegally serving hookah and liquor

Investigators said that club managers Vikram Malik, Himanshu Kumar and cashier Nagendra Kumar were made to join investigation in the case as they were found that illegal services to the customers were carried out on their instructions

The Gurugram police raided a club in Sector-29 on Sunday for allegedly serving hookah and liquor illegally to the customers without the appropriate license, police said on Monday.

Gurugram police raided the club in Sector 29 in the wee hours of Sunday and arrested three employees. (Parveen Kumar/ HT Photo)

According to police, two managers and a cashier of the pub were arrested and brought to the DLF police station in Sector-29 for legal action.

Police said that the raid was carried out between 1am and 3am after receiving a complaint and at least ten customers were being served liquor and hookah by the staff around that time, which were asked to leave.

Investigators said that club managers Vikram Malik, Himanshu Kumar and cashier Nagendra Kumar were made to join investigation in the case as they were found that illegal services to the customers were carried out on their instructions. Around 356 bottles of Indian and foreign liquor and several flavoured hookahs in large quantities were seized by the police, officials said.

However, Paras Kataria, the general manager of the club, alleged that their establishment was targeted due to business rivalry. “Police has not disclosed the identity , but they have confirmed that someone from our fraternity had filed an RTI to get a reply from the state government that our liquor license had expired on March 31”, he said adding that based on this RTI reply, a complaint was filed against them before the police and the raid was carried out.

Kataria alleged that they had applied for license renewal with one-year fees on March 13 as March 28 was the last date. “Renewal process takes time, and other clubs and pubs in the area are also operating in the same fashion by serving hookah and liquor with pending license renewals,” he added

According to police, on the complaint of assistant sub-inspector, Sandeep Kumar, an FIR was registered against the three staff of the club named Boombox Brewstreet,under relevant sections of The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act and The Punjab Excise Act (Haryana Amendment Bill, 2020) at DLF police station in sector 29 on Sunday.

Subhash Boken, public relations officer of the Gurugram police, said, “Further action in the case will be taken after a detailed investigation.”