Nagpur police raid DJ lounge, seize sound system for noise violation

Police carried out a major raid at Hichki Lounge, which operates on an upper floor of a multi-storey building in the Mangalwari Bazar area under Sadar police station limits in Nagpur, on Sunday night. The raid was carried out on the instructions of Commissioner of Police Vishwas Nangare Patil, who had already received information that the lounge played loud DJ music late into the night, with customers dancing, causing trouble for nearby residents.

Acting on this complaint, the CP's escort squad and a Sadar police team reached the lounge at around 1 am. As soon as police entered the building, loud DJ music could be clearly heard. Police measured the noise level with a meter on the 12th floor itself and found it at 100.6 decibels, nearly double the permissible limit.

When police reached Hichki Lounge on the 13th floor of the Park Avenue building, they found customers dancing to the DJ's music. Police immediately had the DJ stopped and seized the entire sound system, including the mixer, bass and top speakers.

Police have registered a case against both the DJ and the lounge manager. The accused named are Deep Shankarrao More (22), a resident of Shrikrishnanagar, Dighori, who was operating the DJ, and Abhay Keshav Virkhede (44), a resident of Kolte Layout, Godhani Road, who is said to be the lounge manager. A case has been registered against both at Sadar police station under several sections including the Environment Protection Act.

According to police, the lounge routinely flouted noise rules by playing loud DJ music every day, and the raid followed a complaint on this count. The action was carried out by a team comprising API Bhagwan Koli, PSI Praveenkumar Dahale, Head Constable Anoop Lolusare, Arshad Sheikh, Someshwar Nikhare, Rajesh Ghongade, Sahil Bhoyar, Nitin Nare and Vishnu Khatke.