New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested 65 people after they were seen partying and flouting Coronavirus protocol at two illegal hookah bars in Delhi’s Rohini area.
The first raid was conducted on January 1 and 22 people were arrested from Rohini’s Uptown cafe located in Sector 9. “Based on the information, a raid was conducted at an illegal hookah bar in Sector 9, Rohini on January 1. 22 people were found dancing and smoking hookah violating COVID-19 norms. The owner of the Hookah bar was identified as Sahil,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Rohini Pramod Kumar Mishra told news agency ANI.
Another raid was held on Saturday in Rohini’s Sector 8 area. “32 persons including 3 minors were found smoking hookah inside the bar. Out of 32 persons, 20 were boys and 12 were girls. The owners of the Hookah bar were identified as Amit Dhankar, Sanjay Aggarwal and Pardeep Singhal and appropriate legal action has been initiated against them,” added the DCP.
Prior to this, the Delhi Police busted four hookah bars operating in the national capital’s Punjabi Bagh area in violation of COVID-19 norms and arrested as many people. Four places were identified after the police received information that hookah bars were being run illegally in Punjabi Bagh. Four teams were constituted to raid these places at Club Road, a senior police officer said.
In August this year, the Delhi government had banned the use of hookahs in all public places including hotels, restaurants and bars to control the spread of COVID-19.
Smoking products such as water pipes often involve the sharing of mouthpieces and hoses, which could facilitate the transmission of COVID-19 in communal and social settings, the health department had said in its order.