25 January,2014 08:18 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
10 people, including the proprietors of the Bandra outlet and a local politician, were arrested, after they beat up four people for pointing out the establishment to the social service branch
Mumbai Crime, Bandra, Hookah bar owners beat police informers, Social Service Branch
If you are tipping off cops about possible illegal activities, make sure to maintain a safe distance from those you are telling on. Four police informers paid a heavy price for failing to do this, after notifying law enforcers about a Bandra-based hookah bar on Thursday night. After police officials raided the bar and left, representatives of the establishment caught hold of the tattlers and thrashed them. Later, local cops managed to rescue the victims.
Smoked out: Cops from the Social Service Branch raided the establishment after they were tipped-off that hookah was being served at the place. Representation Pic
Bandra police have arrested ten people in the case. Confirming the incident, Ramchandra Dhawale, senior inspector of Bandra police station, said, "We have arrested ten persons, including Imran Naik, Faizan Naik and Abrar Naik -- three brothers who run the bar - local politician Illiyaz Khan, and some other workers of the establishment. All of them have been charged for kidnapping and assault, and have been remanded in custody by court. Further investigations are on."
The episode transpired while Social Service (SS) branch of Mumbai police was in the process of raiding some hookah bars in the suburbs, starting from Bandra. The team was accompanied by several informers, who help the cops strike at the right places at the right times. The informants first enter a bar, and police officials go in only after a signal reprt them.
On Thursday night, the SS branch sent its informers into the establishment - Fusion - where people in large numbers were puffing on hookahs. The officials raided the bar and completed all the formalities. The SS branch cops left the place with their informers for Andheri, but two of the informants stayed behind.
Outraged by the raid, the staffers grabbed the duo and took them into a room, where they clobbered them. The workers then asked the informers to also call their colleagues. When one of them came over from Andheri, he too was assaulted the same way.
Meanwhile, SS branch officials had reached a bar in Goregaon, but the trap did not work over there. Another informer got a call from one of his beleaguered associates at Fusion.
He too reached the place and was collared by the staffers. However, SS branch officials and the other informers came to know about the situation and rushed to the spot.
They also informed Bandra police and registered a case in the matter.
