Police arrest thirteen persons for running bar after hours

Kolkata Police arrested 13 people, including the manager of a bar and hookah parlour “Mocha” on AJC Bose Road on charges of running the parlour even after midnight and without any valid licence.

The accused were arrested during a sudden raid early morning on Friday.

Police said that acting of a tip-off, a team comprising officers from the city police’s detective department and Beniapukur police station conducted the raid at the bar situated at 209, AJC Bose Road, Karnani Estate. They found more than 15 people present in the bar and they were consuming alcohol while some of them were enjoying hookah.

Employees of the bar had failed to provide any valid permission that allows them to keep it open till 1.30 am. They had also failed to provide any valid documents. Police said that the owner had managed to get a licence of running a restaurant and set up a bar.

The police arrested 13 people including the manager of the Restaurant, Somnath Biswas. The owners of the bar Pawan Kumar Chawla, Nikhil Chawla, Kamal Chawla, Shashank Arora had, however, managed to flee.

A total of 22 litres of alcohol, some tobacco pots containing flavoured tobacco and hookah bases were seized.

A senior police officer said a crackdown has been initiated in the city against the illegal bars and such hookah parlours. At the same time, steps have to be taken to ensure that no bars remained open after midnight. Officers-in-charge of all the police stations in the city have been asked to intensify vigil in their respective areas to ensure that no bars remain open after midnight. The police have decided to take stringent action against the owner of such bars.

On Wednesday, six persons were arrested by Kolkata Police for running a restaurant-cum-hookah-parlour in the southern part of the city for late hours without proper license.