New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) There was smoke all over the place, some hookahs in vibrant colours were kept neatly on a table with men and women sitting around taking long puffs from the hookahs as music played on. Loads of beer, with other high end brands of liquor flowed freely while men and women danced.
This was the scene at a rave party organised on Tuesday night inside a restaurant, flouting Covid guidelines. The young men and women had no idea that the next knock on the door would change their mood for months to come. By this time the area police station had got a whiff about the rave party and the team got ready for a raid.
At 10 past 10 in the night, wearing masks the men in khaki entered the restaurant Playque in Paschim Vihar East in Outer Delhi. Everything stood still, the dance stopped, the music died. Station House Officer Krishan Ballav Jha with his team spent the next few minutes rounding up people and taking down their names. Most of them were in the age group of 18 to 30 years.
“During the raid 31 people including 7 women were found present violating and flouting the lockdown conditions in the Playque restaurant at Pushkar Enclave, Paschim Vihar by way of drinking alcohol, puffing at hookahs and dancing. Seven bottles of liquor of different brands, 4 quarters and 77 beer bottles (all unused) and about a similar quantity of used liquor bottles and 8 hookahs were recovered from different tables,” said a senior police officer.
The owner Lavish Khurana along with his brother Kashish Khurana was booked under different sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The police said that because of Covid-19 they fast-tracked the paper work of the accused. The owners of the restaurant were produced in the court later on Wednesday where the court sent them to judicial custody.
“The offence being bailable against 29 other persons, they were released on bail,’ said the officer.
Police said the restaurant did not have a licence to serve liquor. The police added that they took proper precautions while conducting the raid and all proper social distancing norms were followed.
Earlier in June this year, Delhi police raided west Delhi’s popular eating joint Qubitos which had reopened after being shut for almost three months. The restaurant got into trouble as 38 persons were nabbed for celebrating a birthday party while allegedly violating all social distancing norms. The owner of the restaurant along with the manager was booked along with the organiser of the party.
–IANS
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