Waitress who served dry ice instead of mouth freshener at Gurugram restaurant arrested

The food and supply department, on March 6, sealed the eatery, which had opened three years ago, said officials

Gurugram: The Gurugram police on Friday arrested the 23-year-old waitress of Laforestta Café at Sapphire Mall in Sector 90, for allegedly serving dry ice instead of mouth fresheners to five diners, leading to their hospitalisation, police said.

A view of Laforestta Cafe and restaurant at Sapphire Mall at Sector 90 in Gurugram. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The woman is a resident of Sector 83 in Gurugram. She is from Ludhiana in Punjab and was working at the restaurant for nearly a year.

Read here: Ggm eatery that served dry ice instead of mouth freshener to 5 diners sealed

Manesar assistant commissioner of police, Surender Sheoran, said that the woman was produced before a court on Friday and was granted bail. “We are awaiting the FSL report and lab sample report of the items taken from the restaurant. We are also investigating to see if anyone else was also served dry ice by the staff in the past,” he said.

Gurugram deputy commissioner, Nishant Kumar Yadav, on March 6 had asked the department to prepare a list of restaurants, pubs and bars using dry ice in their establishments. He said an advisory will be issued to all city outlets to ensure that their staff get proper training in the handling and usage of dry ice.

According to doctors, the five diners suffered corrosive injuries that caused severe damage to the oral cavity and food pipe. Two of the diners were discharged from the hospital on Tuesday while the other three remain under medical care, police officers said.

The manager of the restaurant was arrested on March 5 and sent to 14-day judicial custody, said police officers. During the probe, the manager told investigators that the incident was an accident and the dry ice got mixed with mouth fresheners due to the negligence of staff members, said Sheoran.

“We will issue another notice to the restaurant’s owner to join the investigation since he has not joined yet,” said ACP Sheoran.

The incident occurred on March 2 when Manik Goenka was celebrating his birthday at the Laforestta Café with his wife Pritika Rustagi, their friends Deepak Arora and his wife Himani, and Ankit Kumar and his wife Neha Sabharwal, all aged between 25 and 30, and Kumar and Neha’s one-year-old daughter.

Read here: Gurugram admin to issue advisory to eateries, pubs using dry ice

Officials of the excise department said that the restaurant had applied for an excise licence recently, but it would not be granted one considering recent events.