Pune: Top five-star clubs including JW Marriott, Westin pubs raided by Crime Bra

In a post-midnight raid, sleuths from the Crime Branch of Pune city police swooped down on 11 pubs, 5-star hotels and hookah joints across the city and registered cases under different sections of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) and Bombay Police Act. After assuming charge of Pune City police, Commissioner of Police K Venkatesham has ordered a crackdown on illegal activities. The raid continued from 1 am to 4 am on Sunday by Crime and EOW Units of Crime Branch as hookah is not permitted by law.

As per information received from the Crime Branch, the raids were conducted at Maclaren's Pub, Daily All Day, The Bar Stock Exchange all in Koregaon Park; Ykee, Knight Rider, Night Sky, Westin Hotel, Penthouse, Hard Rock Cafe, Okwood Lounge, Blue Shack that fall under the Mundhwa police station, and Miami at JW Marriott on Senapati Bapat road under the Chatushringi police station.

There were 6000 to 7000 youngsters. Police officials said that they have received many complaints from parents about addiction among their children. These raids were carried out under the supervision of Additional Commissioner of Police Pradip Deshpande, DCPs Jyotipriya Singh, and Shirish Sardeshpande; by ACPs Nilesh More and Bhanupratap Barge, six Police Inspectors, six assistant police inspectors and 40 staffs of Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Crime units.

Earlier on Monday, the police had taken action against seven well-known spots including Carnival, Shisha, Malibu Café, Holy Smoke, Hook Me Up and Village Hotel. These are hotels in areas like Kondhwa, Mundhwa, Koregaon Park, Hinjewadi and Deccan, where the police have increased late night patrolling. The police have also filed cases against 55 persons for smoking hookah.

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