The patrons a builder's brother and a trustee with an education institute are absconding; the girl, Sunita, is out on bail
The patrons a builder's brother and a trustee with an education institute are absconding; the girl, Sunita, is out on bail
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The current economic crisis does not seem to have hit two rich and powerful men, who splurged Rs 65 lakh on a bar dancer on the night of December 26.
The party at Santacruz's Star Night dance bar, was short-lived, as the cops swooped in and arrested around nine dancers and the bar manager. Sunita, along with Anu, Kavita, Dolly and five others, were caught in the act in one of the ante-chambers of the bar.
However, the two patrons managed to escape before the cops raided the premises. The Social Service branch recovered Rs 11 lakh in cash from the bar.
December was an active month for Mumbai's dance bars, though officially shut after former home minister
R R Patil clamped down on them three years ago. His departure, added by cops prioritising internal security post November 26, had brought much cheer in the otherwise empty dance corridors. Sporadic raids on some night clubs had, however, continued.
The long weekend post Christmas was a lucky break for the cops, who on a tip-off raided Star Night, a decrepit nightclub in a bylane, a stone's throw from the Santacruz police station.
While the arrest of the bar girls and their manager under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act and their subsequent bail is being treated in a routine fashion, the police are investigating the source of the funds that the patrons splurged at the bar.u00a0
Other raids
Inspector R R Joshi, the head of the social service branch, revealed that his team raided four bars between December 24 and 26.
Amount recovered: Rs 1.2 lakh per bar (average) during the raids
Bar girls arrested: 58
Private chambers
Night clubs are a known source of entertainment and cash flow in Mumbai. Many popular haunts have several common dance rooms, which are patronised by about 30 to 50 people, with eight to 14 girls gyrating to popular Bollywood numbers. But the 'real' action is in the ante-chambers, which are 'private' floors. High net-worth guests are entertained by star performers in these chambers.
Cash and credit showers
> Though patrons are known to shower hard cash on their favourite performers, police sources confirmed that some transactions were conducted by credit card swipes and cash coupons
> Trusted patrons can take coupons in the denominations of Rs 10,000 to 1 lakh from the counter as IOUs
> The 'prize' money is shared by the dancer and the night club, which takes away 50 to 60 per cent of the amount
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