Mumbai eatery raided for serving hookah

A restaurant in a mall near the Kanjurmarg railway station was raided on Thursday.

Thirty youngsters, including 11 teenaged girls, were booked under the Bombay Police Act.

A group of Bharatiya Janata Party workers tipped off the police about hookah being served at Sheesha even after the ban.

The Bombay high court on July 13 upheld the decision of the municipal corporation to ban the sale of hookah and other tobacco products in restaurants and eating joints in the city.

Viral Shah, a BJP worker, said “We came to know that despite a ban, Sheesha restaurant was serving hookahs to youngsters.”
He added that when they  went to restaurant on Thursday, they found many youngsters, mostly teenagers, being served hookahs.

“We informed the police. But, the police took about 50 minutes to come. During this time, the restaurant management got a whiff of police action. With help of bouncers, they started forcing the patrons to leave the place. While they were trying to shut the restaurant, we stopped them and waited for the police,” Shah said.

The police checked the documents of the restaurant and then took details of the youngsters present in the restaurant.

According to the police, the youngsters who have been caught are not minors but are between 21 and 25 years.

Senior police inspector Laxman Bhure said: “The restaurant does not have permission to serve hookahs, so the management has been booked. The 30 youngsters have been booked under the Bombay Police Act.”

According to the BJP workers, there are 10 to 11 bouncers employed by the restaurant who were trying to stop them from informing police and were also asking the patrons to leave place after they got a whiff about the raid.