Major Raid by Pune Police In Kondhwa, Illegal Hookah Bar Busted Near Parge Nagar 

Police in the Kondhwa area have taken swift action against an illegal hookah parlour.

16 April 2024

By Khushi Maheshwari

Police have busted an illicit Hookah parlour running inside the folds of Hindustan House’s Cafe 26 in Kondhwa area of Pune city.

They have arrested 3 individuals (including the owner of the cafe) namely Jivan Balvant Dhame, Rakesh Bharat Sonar and Prem Lalji Singh. A case has been registered under Sections 4A and 21A of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Maharashtra Amendment) Act 2018. 

Rakesh is a resident of Volteks Plaza, located near the Shivaji Maharaj Putla in the Market Yard area, while Jivan lives in Maurya Atharva Society, B.T. Kawade Road. Prem Lalji resides in the Magarpatta area of the city in Shinde Vasti. Jivan was a waiter in the cafe and Prem was working as a cook. 

Among all the items confiscated there were 15 hookah chillums, 15 hookah pots, 15 hookah pipes and 8 packets of tobacco flavours, of which 2 belong to the brand Alfakar and 6 to Afzal; additionally, 2 packets of hookah filters have also been seized. 

The Hookah bar had been functioning illicitly for a while before the raid took place. The police were refraining from taking any action due to “financial” priorities. The raid was a result of higher authority orders and was conducted by the Bibwewadi Police in collaboration with the Parge Nagar area, near the periphery of the Kondhwa police station. They confiscated all tobacco-related items and materials associated with hookah. 

The police gained access to the parlour through a metal gate on the third floor of Hindustan House. Inside the cafe, Rakesh Sonar was spotted sitting behind the counter. The dimensions of the parlour are 25 by 45 feet. It has around 10 couches and tables as seating arrangements. The police observed that some customers were smoking hookah at these tables and Jivan Dhame was waiting on them and serving, while Prem Singh was preparing food in the kitchen.  

This is the second hookah parlour in the Kondhwa area to have been cracked down by the police. Last year around May, another parlour near the Cloud 9 area in the Kondhwa vicinity was busted by the police and involved officers from the Social Security Cell of the Crime Branch.