Five arrested from illegal hookah bars in Jaipur

Jaipur: The city police raided five hookah-bars operating under the guise of restaurants and cafes on Wednesday night. Five people were arrested from these places when it was found that they were involved in the trade. A large number of hookahs, pipes, chillums and flavours have been recovered from their possession. They were booked under COPTA Act.

DCP (Crime) Narayan Togas said that those arrested were identified as Chandan (22), Sohan Singh (30), Harshit Purohit (22), Ramvir Singh (30) and Sonu Mandal (26). Police officials said that Chandan and Sohan Singh – residents of West Delhi and Jawahar Nagar in Jaipur were arrested from Downtown Café. Harshit Purohit – resident of Sector – 11 in Malviya Nagar – was arrested from Hot Drop Café, Ramvir Singh – a resident of Karauli district – from Queens Restaurant and Sonu Mandal from Café Zofo. Sonu belongs to Kho Nagorian.

Police officials said that the searches were carried out on Wednesday night after getting a tip-off that that hookah-bars were being run under the guise of restaurants and cafes in Jawahar Circle area. The searches were carried out at Hooked Restaurant, Down Town Cafe, Hot Drop Cafe, Queen’s Restaurant and Jofo Cafe located at Jawahar Circle.

People were caught red-handed operating hookah bars which are banned in the state. The police arrested the five accused men. As many as 14 hookahs, 14 pipes, 14 chillams and 10.5 packets of flavour were recovered.