'Police hand in glove with dance bar owners'

Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Tuesday said top police officials would be held responsible if the dance bars and hookah parlors are found functioning in areas under their jurisdiction.

"Mumbai police commissioner will be directed to ensure that these two activities are completely stopped in the city," Patil told the legislative assembly during discussion on a notice moved by Opposition members over implementation of a ban on the dance bars in the state.

Patil was faced with a barrage of complaints from the opposition members, who alleged that despite the government law in place to shut dance bars in the state, the implementation has been extremely poor and they are functioning with police protection.

Responding to the allegations Patil said the concerned police official will be suspended within 24 hours if the dance bars are found functioning with a tacit support of police.

However, Shiv Sena member Subhash Desai countered the home minister saying how links between police officers and owners of dance bars could be proved. Leader of Opposition, Eknath Khadse, alleged that police officers were hand-in-glove with the owners of dance bars, and accused the state government of supporting them.

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Devendra Phadanvis alleged of a police link in the dance bars operational in Kandivali (west), Dahisar and Grant Road. BJP MLA Sardar Tara Singh alleged that a bribe of Rs 50,000 each was paid to the staff of Mulund police station by three dance bars in his constituency.

"These bars function till 3 am every day and my complaints have fallen on deaf ears," the MLA said.