Chhattisgarh Police on Monday arrested five persons and booked nine others for hosting a birthday party in a hotel despite the week-long lockdown due to Covid-19 epidemic in the state capital.
Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar Yadav told The Pioneer that the arrested men were hotelier Harshit Singhania, General Manager Suraj Sharma, Front Office Manager Sanskar Pache, Assistant Manager Karan Sonwani and Hitesh Bhai Patel, who had opened fire at the party.
They have been arrested under the Epidemic Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Two of the nine others booked under IPC and Epidemic Act were identified as Amit Dhawal and Meenal, who had booked the hotel for the party.
Among the others, Champalal Jain, Neha Jain, Meenali Singhania and Namit Jain are also hotel owners. Abhijeet Kaur Nirankari, Twinkle Singh and Rajveer Singh, who had come from Durg, are at large and will be arrested soon, the officer added.
Police on Sunday night got a tip about the birthday party after gunfire was heard at Queens Club of India.
When police reached the spot, they found a crowd at the reception. One of the hotel rooms was decorated.
Police detained Suraj Sharma, who said that Amit and Meenal had booked the hotel and that Hitesh Bhai Patel opened fire at the parking venue over a petty issue.
On a complainant of Aftab Qureshi, police lodged a case of attempt to murder against Hitesh Bhai Patel and arrested him.
