The Mumbai Police on Tuesday raided a club for violating coronavirus-related safety norms in the city and filed a case against 34 people, including cricketer Suresh Raina, ANI reported.
The police said that they raided the Dragonfly Pub near the Mumbai airport as it was open beyond the permissible time limit and was not following safety guidelines or physical distancing norms.
Raina, singer Guru Randhawa and interior designer Sussane Khan were also arrested along with the pub’s staff members, India Today reported. Raina and Randhawa got bail later.
They were all charged under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention of all), 269 (whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the National Disaster Management Act.
The raids on the pub took place at around 2.50 am, according to NDTV. Clubs in the city are allowed to stay open till 11.30 pm only.
The Mumbai Police said that 19 people booked for the violation of safety norms were from Delhi and Punjab. Adding some humour to their tweet, the police wrote, “party (nahin) chalegi till six in the morning!”
Also read: Covid-19: Maharashtra announces night curfew, 14-day quarantine for fliers from Europe, Middle East
Follow today’s live updates on the coronavirus here.
Raina’s management team, meanwhile, said in a statement that he had come to Mumbai from Delhi for a shoot and was not familiar with the city’s coronavirus protocol. “Once pointed out, he immediately complied with the procedures laid out by the authorities and regrets the unfortunate and unintentional incident,” the team said.
Randhawa’s team also released a statement saying that the violation was unintentional as the singer was not aware of the night curfew, and that he regrets the incident, reported The Indian Express.
“Unfortunately, he was not aware of local authorities’ decision of night curfew but instantly conformed to all rules laid out by the government officials,” the statement said. “He promises to compile with government guidelines and protocols by taking all precautionary measures in the future.”
On Monday, the Maharashtra government announced the imposition of a night curfew till January 5 to restrict Christmas and New Year celebrations. The curfew will be in force between 11 pm and 6 am. Maharashtra has reported more than 18 lakh coronavirus cases and 48,801 deaths so far.
The government also decided to quarantine passengers arriving from Europe and West Asia for two weeks. The decision were taken after a new strain of coronavirus – spreading faster than other variants – was detected in the United Kingdom. India has also suspended flight services from the UK till December 31.
India’s coronavirus tally went up to 1,00,75,116 on Tuesday after it reported 19,556 new cases in 24 hours. This is the lowest daily rise in infections since early July. The country’s toll went up by 301 to 1,46,111.
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