Nagpur: In a late-night operation, the Crime Branch Unit 5 of Nagpur Police raided an illegal hookah parlour operating under the guise of a café at Laxmi Bhavan, Gautamare Complex, Sitabuldi, and apprehended four individuals for serving banned tobacco products.
Based on reliable intelligence, the team conducted a raid at Second Floor Cafe between 1:00 am and 3:30 am on Tuesday, June 17 and found that the accused were supplying prohibited flavoured tobacco products for hookah consumption to customers for monetary gain.
The arrested individuals have been identified as:
- Sunny Vikas Borkar (25), resident of Ambedkar Nagar, Dharampeth
- Harsh Suresh Khandarkar (22), resident of Ramnagar, Hill Top
- Arpan Ravi Jamgade (19), resident of Hill Top, Sudam Nagari
- Brinal Sudhir Gaware (20), resident of Ambedkar Nagar, Dharampeth
Police seized hookah pots, various flavoured tobacco products, other related items, and cash, amounting to a total seizure of ₹3,83,580.
An offence has been registered at Sitabuldi Police Station under Sections 4(1), 5(1), and 21 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003 and the Maharashtra Prohibition of Hookah Parlours (Amendment) Act, 2018. The accused, along with the seized items, have been handed over to Sitabuldi Police for further investigation.
This action was carried out under the guidance of Commissioner of Police Ravinder Kumar Singal, Joint Commissioner Navinchandra Reddy, Additional CP (Crime) Vasant Pardeshi, DCP (Detection) Rahul Makanikar, and ACP (Crime Branch) Abhijeet Patil.
The operation was led by PI Sandeep Bua along with a team of police officers and personnel including Chandrashekhar Gautam, Rajesingh Rathod, Ramesh Taklikar, Rupesh Nanavatkar, Anis Khan, Pravin Bhagat, Ganesh Thakre, Pramod Bawane, Vishal Nagbhidkar, Devchand Thote, Sunil Yadav, Amol Bhakte, Sudhir Tiwari, and Urvashi Ewnate.
