Ghaziabad: An FIR was registered against four members of a fringe group for allegedly abusing and pushing staff at a club, behaving indecently and improperly recording a video. The club owner alleged that they came under attack after they were asked to settle bills and refused to pay Rs 50,000 in ‘protection’ money.The complaint was submitted by Harleen Kaur, the owner of Valhalla Club & Restaurant at D-mall in Indirapuram, who accused four men, Amit Pehalwan, Akku Pandit, Sorabh Pandit and Daksh Chaudhary, who identified themselves as members of a fringe group.Kaur claimed that on Aug 26, Amit came to her club with his friends but did not pay the bill and left after threatening to get the cafe shut down. Also, on Aug 30, around 12 am, three men — Amit, Akku and Sorabh — visited the club again with some of their associates for a party, but when asked for payment, they abused, pushed and misbehaved with the staff, including women.She claimed the accused recorded a video of some women customers being served liquor and hookah, for which the club holds a permit, with the intention to tarnish its image. She claimed that on Sept 5, Daksh Chaudhary called her on WhatsApp and demanded Rs 50,000 per month, in what she described as “goonda tax”, to allow the cafe to operate and also abused her.Indirapuram ACP Suryabali Maurya said an FIR has been registered against the four accused under BNS sections 74 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 308 (2) (extortion), 351 (2) (criminal intimidation), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and an investigation was underway.The accused, meanwhile, claimed one of their workers had allegedly tried to film how the cafe was serving a few women hookah and liquor at 2 am. When the women objected, it led to an argument before the workers moved away. They later left the cafe and called the police.Police are investigating whether the club holds a licence under the Uttar Pradesh Excise (Grant of Bar Licences) Rules, 2025, which allows a restaurant to serve alcohol from 10 am to midnight, or an event bar licence. For an event bar licence, an applicant can specify the duration for which liquor will be served, but it can be up to 12 hours and cannot extend beyond midnight.The cafe owner, meanwhile, released a video accusing the workers of consuming food and other items without paying. She alleged they vandalised the cafe and threatened to have it shut down after being asked to pay. In an appeal to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Kaur said she had borrowed money from several people to run the cafe and was using its earnings to repay the loans and support her family. She also threatened suicide if no action was taken against the accused.
