Bars, restaurants, wedding halls, car service centres, film studios and sports turfs are thriving on a 116-acre plot at Charkop, Kandivli West, that the state has leased out to boost manufacturing. While the government charged up to Rs 7 per square foot, the tenants are allegedly making lakhs of rupees by flouting lease conditions. In what could trigger a string of cases, the police have now registered an FIR against an illegal pub—Rule 34—at Charkop.

The police action came on a complaint by Sandesh Jairam Pawar, a junior engineer in BMC. The cops said accused Anant Belose rented the property from the state to run a manufacturing business on plot number 148, while the other accused, identified as Arvind Vishwakarma, runs Rule 34 pub in clear violation of the lease conditions.