Three persons booked under COTPA for allegedly serving tobacco-based hookahs to customers

Nagpur: The Crime Branch's Unit 2 raided Gen Zee's Café in the Ambazari police station area on Friday afternoon and seized hookah equipment and tobacco products worth Rs 13,820. Three persons have been booked for allegedly serving tobacco-based hookahs to customers at the café despite restrictions under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA).

The raid was conducted around 4 pm on November 13. The accused have been identified as Pappu alias Vikas Raju Dagor (33), a resident of Sahayog Nagar in the Ramnagar-Telangkhedi area; Harsh Vijay Kangale (19), a resident of Harijan Colony near Ginger Mall in Jaripatka; and Nitin Balkrishna Jadhav (35), a resident of Besanbagh near Ginger Mall in Jaripatka.

According to the police, the accused allegedly filled hookah pots with tobacco products and supplied them to customers at the café. Acting on the information, the Crime Branch team raided the premises and seized four hookah pots worth Rs 10,000, five pipes worth Rs 2,500, two filters worth Rs 20, three packets of flavouring material worth Rs 350, two earthen chillums worth Rs 100, a coal tong worth Rs 100 and a coal sieve worth Rs 200. The total value of the seized material was estimated at Rs 13,820.

The Ambazari police have registered a case against the three accused under relevant provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, along with the Maharashtra amendment. Further investigation is underway.