Bengaluru: A residential house in Kenchanapura village turned into a secret hookah bar, with a private firm employee reportedly serving customers, until police raided the premises and arrested them on Aug 31.Acting on specific information, Kumbalagodu police inspector Kumar and his team conducted a raid on the first floor of a house rented by Ajith B Nayak, 28, a resident of Meenakshinagar in Basaveshwaranagar. He had employed Varuna KR, 25, a native of Hassan, as a service boy. Police found the duo operating a prohibited hookah bar and supplying hookah to customers who were Ajith and friends of his friends.During the raid, police seized five hookah pots, three pipes, two boxes of pots, three used lighters, half-used charcoal and three foil sheets. They also recovered Rs 450 collected from customers.Police learnt a group of six, including Ajith and his friends, used to go to Ramanagara in Bengaluru South district to smoke hookah. They used to spend almost Rs 500 per person. Last year, they decided to have their own hookah bar.He and his friends purchased hookah pots, pipes and flavours from a hookah bar that was shut last year in Annapoorneshwarinagar. He then rented a house on the first floor for Rs 13,000 per month, to gather with his friends during weekends and smoke hookah.Another tenant staying on the ground floor, identified as Shivu, was also going to the first floor to smoke hookah, a senior officer said.Ajith, who has completed MA in Economics and master’s degree in civil engineering, is working as a senior analyst for a private firm in Domlur, while Varuna is a BBA graduate.Further investigation is on and police are probing if the house owner had any role in the illegal activity.
