Tejas Navale

Pune: After another case of drug consumption in Pune's bars and restaurants went viral, the opposition leaders in the state started criticising the government's handling of soaring drug cases in the city and demanded stricter enforcement in this regard. Accordingly, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered the Pune Police Commissioner, Amitesh Kumar, to demolish illegal restaurants and bars in the city.

For the past few months, Pune city has always been in the headlines in connection with drug consumption. Initially, the Lalit Patil drug case caused a stir in the city, which revealed one of the biggest drug rackets in the country. After that, bars and pubs again face scrutiny after the Kalyaninagar fatal car accident case.

Various leaders, including the opposition and the government, time and again raised their voices against stricter regulation of increasing pub culture in the city. However, the city and police administration have not been showing promptness in their action against responsible bar owners. Surprisingly, after yesterday's phone call by the CM to the police commissioner, the city administration swung into action and started taking action against unauthorised establishments in the city.

From this morning on, the city administration started demolishing illegal structures on the Gopal Krishna Gokhale (earlier Fergusson Road) road. Meanwhile, the deputy CM and Home Minister of the state, Devendra Fadnavis, also ordered the police commissioner to have continuity in their actions and not take aftermath actions.

So far, the Police Commissioner has ordered the suspension of Superintendent of Police (Crime) Anil Mane, Assistant Superintendent of Police Dinesh Patil, and two beat marshals of Shivajinagar Police Station, while the state excise department sealed the Liquid Leisure Lounge and arrested a total of eight people, including Ravi Maheshwari, Utkarsh Deshmane, Yogendra Girase, Manas Malik, Akshay Kamthe, and three others. The session court granted them police custody until June 29.