Gurgaon: Manager of CyberHub pub, staffer held for beating up three guests, granted bail
The manager of the bar and restaurant The Wine Company was released on bail after he was arrested by the police in connection with a brawl at the restaurant
The manager of the bar and restaurant The Wine Company was released on bail on Thursday, a day after he was arrested by the police in connection with a brawl between the management and three customers on Monday night.
Roopak Trivedi, the manager, and another worker were produced in a court on Thursday and released on bail. The police are looking for three bouncers who have been identified from the CCTV cameras.
Sudeep Singh, station house officer, DLF Phase 2 police station, said they produced the two men in court on Thursday where they were granted bail. “We are tracing the three bouncers who are from Faridabad. They will be nabbed soon,” he added.
In the incident, three men, identified as Ishant Agarwal of Punjabi Bagh (in Delhi), Rahul Lakshman, a London-based UK passport holder and Sidharth Chaudhary of Rohini (in Delhi) were allegedly thrashed by bouncers and staff of the bar, over what the management claims is a payment dispute.
The victims, however, alleged that the violence was the management’s response to an argument.
Agarwal is a Delhi-based entrepreneur who had been helping Lakshman scout for business opportunities in the past month. Chaudhary also runs a business.
MG Road resident and Ishant’s cousin, Nikhil Agarwal, said the trio had reached the restaurant around 10.30pm and had ordered food, wine and shots of hard liquor.
“They were in the restaurant for over two hours. Around 12.30am, the waiters called for final orders as it was closing time. The three decided to place the final order and pay the bill of around Rs24,000, simultaneously,” Nikhil said.
He added that as soon as the bill was cleared, the restaurant workers started clearing their table. The trio objected to this, following which the manager intervened. He agreed to return the bottles and the liquor in plastic glasses, but there was a heated argument over the restaurant overcharging them for certain items, Nikhil claimed.
He added that during the argument, one of the bouncers held Chaudhary in a tight grip and Lakshman was barred from leaving the restaurant.
“The bouncers thought the bill had not been settled. However, when these three protested, around eight to 10 bouncers pounced on them. They were hit with bottles and any other item that the staff could lay their hands on,” said Suryansh Jalan, a friend of the victims.
Nikhil said they were pushed to the amphitheatre and brutally beaten up for around five minutes. After the restaurant staff left the trio in a heap, Ishant managed to call his relatives in Gurgaon and the police, he added.
The police took them to DLF Phase 2 police station, but released them on Nikhil’s intervention. After that they were taken to the emergency wing of Fortis Hospital and treated for injuries.
Investigating officer, Sanjay Kumar, recorded the statements of the three persons at Fortis Hospital on Tuesday morning.
“This was a brutal attack. My cousin Ishant has several stitches on his head and on the side of his neck. Lakshman suffered injuries to his face and his teeth were broken. One of the assailants had used a broken glass bottle to hit them,” said Nikhil.
“We are questioning the assailants and teams are working to nab the rest of those involved. All those responsible will be booked,” Deepak Saharan, deputy commissioner of police (east), said.
The police has registered a case under IPC’s sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) against the manager and the worker identified.
The management of The Wine Company, however, maintained that the reason for the fracas was the unruly behaviour of the three, who wanted to stay on the premises beyond closing hours and in their drunken state had picked up a fight with passersby outside the bar premises. They said that the trio had also misbehaved with the staff and the manager.
“We are cooperating with the authorities and will not hesitate to take stringent action, including dismissal from service, if any staff member is found culpable. At The Wine Company, guest service and safety is always the priority and our staff is trained to ensure the same. However, we do not accept any inappropriate behaviour towards our staff who graciously serve customers till late in the night. We apologise to any patrons if our staff have been rude or have misbehaved, but would also request our patrons to respect our service staff,” the spokesperson said.