A day after the operators of a hookah centre in Banjara Hills allegedly tortured a youngster for recovery of dues, police on Wednesday cracked down on many such centres by raiding them.
Seven hookah centres in Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills were inspected by the police. Samples were collected from these centres and are being sent to the Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory (APSFL) to ascertain if any narcotic substances were being used to attract the customers.
Cases under Section 21/76 of the City Police Act were booked against all the seven centres for violating licence conditions. Some of them failed to maintain the mandatory registers of the customers and were operating beyond the closing time of 8 p.m., the Banjara Hills ACP, E. Shankar Reddy, said.
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Meanwhile, the Banjara Hills police picked up Kaleem and Qadir for allegedly kidnapping and torturing a teenager Deepak to recover dues from him. They are being interrogated.
The Home Minister, P. Sabita Indra Reddy, directed the City Police Commissioner to ensure that minors are not allowed into the hookah centres.
She directed the police to cancel the licences of the centres if they were found allowing minors to use hookah.
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