Refused free booze, MNS men wreck bar

Mumbai: The Mahim police has booked Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers, arresting two of them for allegedly vandalising a local bar named Royal Bar after being refused free drinks, which led to a scuffle with other customers as well early on Monday.

The arrested accused, Jayesh Patel (35) and Abhishek Gupta (37), allegedly attacked the complainant with a hockey stick, vandalised the bar, and created a ruckus outside. They were later released on bail.

The police said it is on the lookout for the other two accused and is scouring areas known to be frequented by them.

The complainant, Aakash Gupta (26), a waiter working with Royal Bar, claimed that the four accused — Patel, Gupta, Ravi alias Bunty and Sunil Pardeshi — entered the bar at 11 pm on Saturday and were having hard drinks.

An hour-and-a-half later when they were served the bill, they allegedly refused to pay and got into a scuffle with other customers. When the bar manager tried to calm down the situation, the four accused pushed him aside and left the bar premises without paying the bill.

Mr Gupta said, “Fifteen minutes later, the four accused returned with hockey sticks and vandalised the bar by breaking the door glass and the tables inside the bar. As there was a CCTV camera installed at the entrance, the ruckus outside was captured but sans CCTV inside the bar, the action within was not recorded.”

Kusum Waghmare, who has been given additional charge of senior police inspector of Mahim police station, said, “We have registered a case against the four accused persons, and arrested two of them. The complainant has given us the CCTV footage that shows the faces of the accused vandalising the bar premises, and we will be using that as evidence.”

The accused have been booked under section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

The manager told this newspaper, “The four accused used to have free drinks at the bar, and when we denied them the false privilege, they lost their temper and started a fight with me and the other customers. The accused hit me with hockey sticks and threatened me.”

One of the local boys, who helped the bar manager get out of the situation, said, “The accused men were in an inebriated state, and attacked with hockey sticks and bamboos. They also hit a few locals who tried to stop them.”