In a storming operation, special teams of the city police raided 19 recreation clubs, including popular pubs, across the city and arrested 23 employees on charges of violating the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act and Rules, police sources said on Saturday.
The pubs that were allegedly operating with licences issued to defunct clubs were closed down last night and investigators would recommend to the Tamil Nadu Excise Department to cancel the licences, the sources said.
Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan ordered a raid on recreation clubs in the city following which the teams headed by inspectors of different police stations were formed to conduct the surprise checks. They raided clubs in Nungambakkam, Adyar, Anna Salai, Saidapet, Pallikaranai, Tambaram, Ramala Nagar, Triplicane, Neelankarai and other parts of the city, police said.
“We checked for different violations, including keeping the club open beyond 11 p.m, serving liquor to non-members and lack of proper display of name boards among others,” said a police officer. A total of 23 persons, mostly managers, were arrested, he added.
Additional Commissioner of Police (South) Mahesh Kumar Agarwal said the surprise checks followed receipt of specific information that the recreation centres or pubs were operating with licences issued to clubs that were either defunct or shifted operations to a new address and they served liquor to non-members. The raids would continue at regular intervals to ensure compliance of the licence conditions, he said.
