Navi Mumbai: In a swift late-night operation, Vashi Police raided the popular ‘House of Lord’ restaurant located in the Greenscape Building in Sector-30 for allegedly running an illegal hookah parlour. This is the second police action against the establishment within just eight days for the same violation.

Acting on specific information that the restaurant had resumed illegal hookah services despite earlier action, a police team conducted a raid at around 12:15 AM on March 15. During the operation, officers found several customers consuming nicotine-based and tobacco products on the premises.

Police seized a considerable quantity of hookah-related items and materials during the raid. The confiscated items included assorted branded aromatic tobacco flavours, hookah pots covered with silver foil, smoking pipes, and other related equipment used for serving hookah.

The repeated violation has raised serious concerns among both authorities and local residents. The same restaurant had been raided earlier on March 8 for operating an illegal hookah parlor. However, despite the crackdown, the management allegedly restarted the activity discreetly within a week.

Following the raid, police registered a case against the restaurant’s manager and staff under Sections 4(A) and 21(A) of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (COTPA), 2003.

Four individuals were taken into custody during the operation. They have been identified as Kanaljit Singh Sarwan Singh Bela (33), the manager; Swapnil Shinde (32), a waiter; Imran Abdul Hamid Hussain (25), a resident of Panvel; and Dharmendrakumar Sattelal Singh, a resident of Vashi.

"It is concerning that the establishment resumed these illegal activities so shortly after the first raid. We are taking strict measures to ensure such violations do not continue," said a police officer.