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After HC clarification, raid at Lko hookah bar: 42 caught, operators flee
Qaiserbagh police storm Cafe Tales, find customers smoking at 11 tables; alleged operators bolt through rear exit
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Eleven tables, 14 hookahs and 42 people that is what Qaiserbagh police walked into during a late-night raid at a cafe on Monday, in one of the biggest crackdowns on hookah service in Lucknow in recent times. The raid was conducted at Cafe Tales, on the fourth floor above City Hotel, on Bisheshwar Nath Road, Lalbagh, police said.
The raid came days after the Allahabad high court made the legal position on hookah service in Uttar Pradesh clearer: restaurants cannot prepare or serve hookah, even inside designated smoking zones. The recent high court ruling (September 29) rejected the argument that a restaurant can get around the prohibition simply by creating a smoking area. Preparing, serving or facilitating a hookah remains the crucial issue.
“We acted on a tip-off on Monday that hookah service was in operation at the cafe. When the raid team entered, several people were allegedly found seated at different tables, smoking hookah,” said SHO Anjani Kr Mishra. Police said, some of those running the setup shut the door after spotting the team and escaped through a rear passage.
“The 42 people found inside were detained. A search yielded 14 hookah across 11 tables, besides six damaged hookahs, six filled chillams, 20 empty chillams, 10 pipes and 11 packets of hookah flavour. Three mobile phones and ₹2,420 were also recovered from the counter,” police said sharing a detailed statement.
The people behind the setup
According to the SHO, during questioning, Shahrukh Ansari, 27, a waiter, allegedly told police that the cafe was being operated by three men including Syed Zia Ali alias Dawood, Bilal and Sarik, and that he had been hired to serve hookah.
Police said Ansari could not produce a valid licence for operating the hookah setup. He allegedly told investigators that he was doing the work for money.
The alleged operators, however, were not among those caught during the raid and are being traced, police said. “Proceedings have been initiated under Sections 271 and 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 4/25 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003,” the statement further added.
