Pune Bar Sealed, 2 Cops Suspended After 2 Minors Seen Taking Drugs

In an all-night operation, the Pune Police raided and sealed a posh bar in the city for allegedly 'serving' drugs to minors and also turned the heat on two police officials for purported dereliction of duty, officials said here on Monday.

The Pune Police teams swooped on the Liquid Leisure Lounge (L3) in the posh Fergusson College Road vicinity after a social media video surfaced showing a couple of minor boys consuming drugs in the restaurant washroom with a rocking party in the background, early on Sunday.

Following an uproar, Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar ordered a probe and a police team swooped on L3 last night and conducted a thorough search operation after which they sealed the premises early today.

A police official told mediapersons that as per available information, the establishment would shut down the front entrance at 1.30, but permitted sneak entry from the backdoor and the partying continued practically till dawn, videos of which leaked out.

The police have also nabbed the L3 owner Santosh Kamthe, franchisee Ravi Maheshwari, manager Manas Malik and a couple of staffers Utkarsh Deshmane and Yogendra Girafe, who will be produced before a Pune Magistrate court later today, said an official.

Simultaneously, the Pune police have cracked down on two of its cops, including one police inspector and an assistant police inspector, for alleged dereliction of duty as the establishment falling in their jurisdiction blatantly flouted rules and the cops turned a blind eye to the goings-on right under their noses.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the matter was serious and promised stringent efforts to make Pune drug-free as also the rest of Maharashtra.

Newly-elected Pune MP and Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar K. Mohol said that such incidents were giving a bad image to Pune and assured strong action.

NCP(SP) state President Jayanti Patil, along with the other two Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) demanded the resignation of Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis for what they claimed was the total collapse of the law and order situation in the state.

Congress MLA Ravindra Dhangekar and Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Deputy Leader Sushma Andhare slammed the regime for the series of crimes that have rocked Pune in the past few months with the state government unable to control the downslide despite huge anger among the people.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)