Four Pubs in Hyderabad Shut for Preying on Drunk Customers

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Police cancelled the licences of four pubs in Banjara Hills on Saturday for cheating male customers by hiring women who flirt with intoxicated men and lead them on to pay inflated bills.

A fifth bar has been identified for similar malpractices and will be shut down soon, police sources said.

The police's action comes after Tales Over the Spirit (TOS) pub on Road Number 3, Banjara Hills, was raided on Friday night.

Over 40 women were arrested for performing obscene dances and 100 customers were detained for watching the obscene acts. Some of the customers were showering money at the dancers.

Cases of public nuisance, obscene dancing, deceiving persons and criminal conspiracy under sections 290, 294, 188, 318, 120B of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act were registered.

"The owners of TOS Pub Srinivas Goud and Balram Goud were also arrested," Banjara Hills inspector K M Raghavendra.

"Balram Goud and Srinivas Goud were hiring girls by offering them free liquor, food and a cut from the extra amounts charged in the bills," sources said.

The erring pub owners sourced these girls from modest backgrounds in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and sometimes from northeastern states. These girls pretend to be IT professionals or as students. The bar owners go to the extent of providing them high-fashion outfits and smart phones.

These girls even look for unsuspecting victims on social media and trap them with a visit at one of these bars.

"I met a girl at TOS Pub, she was so generous. She sat beside me while I and two of my friends were consuming liquor. The girl spoke fluent English and introduced herself as a software engineer. She said her boyfriend had ditched her and she needed company," Sachin Agarwal, a jeweler said.

"We trusted her not knowing that she was pretending and trapping us. We consumed about five to six pegs each. Next day, I realised that I was charged `25,300 at the pub," Sachin said.

In May this year, Banjara Hills Police raided After-9 Restro Pub where a similar fraud of women deceiving male customers was seen. In the raid, two managers, a cashier, a DJ operator, five bouncers, 131 male customers and 32 women were arrested. Urvasi Bar and Restaurant in Begumpet was also penalised for the same offences earlier.