Mumbai, Jun 9 (Bhaskar News) : Police on Saturday night busted a private party in a bungalow in Khalapur in Raigad district to celebrate the retirement of a Navi Mumbai-based crime branch officer, ACP Suresh Pawar.
The police, who were following up on a tip-off about drugs being used in the party, said they only found girls dancing to music and liquor being consumed without permits, and have arrested six people and detained 12 girls, including a Russian national.
The Khalapur police station received a tip-off that a “rave party” was underway in a farmhouse at Khalapur owned by a builder on Saturday evening. The police raided the farmhouse around 11.30 pm on Saturda
Khalapur police rounded up 12 women and 14 men late on Saturday night. However, by Sunday afternoon, only six of the men were booked for drinking liquor without permits under the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949; the 12 women were booked for "indecent behavior" under Sections 110 and 112 of the Bombay Police Act, 1951.
The bungalow is reportedly owned by a Navi Mumbai builder, Rahim Khatri.
"We raided the bungalow in Kalote village after receiving a tip-off about certain activities taking place there. In one of the rooms, the women were dancing while the men were drinking alcohol and also showering currency notes on the dancers. We have seized cash amounting to Rs. 1,90,990 from the venue along with several liquor bottles," said the investigating officer, API B R Hangirge.
All the 12 women, including an Ukrainian, were later released by a local court, after paying a fine of Rs. 1,200 each, while the six men were also released on a bail bond of Rs. 15,000 each. No legal action was taken against Pawar as he reportedly possessed a valid drinking permit.
No drugs were found at the party, which was reportedly organized by Ahmed Khan (36) from Goregaon.
Pawar defended himself saying he had been invited by a friend and had no idea about any other goings-on at the party. Later, when mediapersons asked Pawar if it was a 'rave party', he countered: "I have retired from police service just one week back. Won't I know the difference between an illegal rave party and a normal party?''
The police had sent all those present at the party for a medical and alcohol detection tests, and later booked Milind Pandit (54), Deepak Chaudhary (37) from Mira Road, Ahmed Ibrahim Khan (36) from Goregaon, Sanjay Chaudhary (55) and Shekhar Devlekar (58) from Chunabhatti, and Sanjay Kamat (44) from Ghatkopar under the Bombay Prohibition Act under sections 85(1) and 66(1) for consuming liquor without possessing a valid licence.
The women claimed to be choreographers from Andheri, Charkop, Oshiwara and Kandivli.
When asked if cops can raid a party taking place inside a private bungalow, the Raigad superintendent of police Ankush Shinde said that they had been informed that an illegal liquor party was on.