Nagpur: Ambazari Police raided Soro Cafe in Ramnagar and busted an illegal hookah parlour being operated without a licence. The cafe owner and a waiter were booked after police allegedly found prohibited tobacco-based hookah being supplied and consumed at the establishment on Sunday night.

Acting on reliable information, Ambazari Police conducted a raid at Soro Cafe around 8.30 pm on September 13 in the presence of witnesses. During the raid, police allegedly found cafe owner Dnyaneshwar Ganpati Pawnikar (32) supplying hookah to customers with the assistance of waiter Sachin Gopichand Kawale (28).

Police seized hookah pots, flavoured tobacco and other material allegedly being used for the illegal activity. The total seized property was valued at ₹2,550.

According to police, the cafe owner and others were allegedly operating the hookah parlour without permission for financial gain and supplying prohibited tobacco-based hookah to customers.

A case has been registered at Ambazari Police Station under Section 272 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 4, 6, 7, 20, 21 and 24 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, as amended by the Maharashtra Amendment Act, 2018.

Further investigation is underway.

The action was conducted under the guidance of Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangre Patil, Joint Commissioner Navinchandra Reddy, Additional Commissioner Vinita Sahu (North Division) and Deputy Commissioner Annapurna Singh (Zone 2), by Senior Inspector Vinod Godbole and his team.