Bhubaneswar: A lively Valentine’s Day celebration at a bar in Kharavela Nagar area of Odisha’s capital turned chaotic early Sunday morning with police raiding the venue and excise authorities subsequently sealing it.
Acting on complaints about the bar operating well beyond permitted hours, excise officials arrived at the premises around 1.30 am. The bar staff and some patrons strongly resisted them while allegedly hurling abuses and threatening them of serious consequences. Following which, a team from Kharavel Nagar police station was called in. “They were extremely unruly and aggressive. They tried to obstruct and intimidate us. We managed to nab the bar manager Abhinash Sahoo with the help of police,” Excise Superintendent Debashish Patel told the media.
Kharavel Nagar police registered an FIR against the bar employees for the violations and misconduct toward government officials and detained three among them. The premises were also immediately sealed with excise officials collecting CCTV footage from the venue to examine patterns of daily closure timings.
Bars in Bhubaneswar are allowed to operate from 12 pm to 12 am, with a standard 30-minute grace period to allow for orderly closure. However, the party at Kharavela Nagar continued past 1 am with music blasting and drinks flowing. There were around 100-150 revellers at the time of the raid, Patel said.
The exercise department is also expected to recommend canceling the bar’s licence.
