Pune pubs that served liquor to underage Porsche driver and his friends sealed

PUNE: Collector Suhas Diwase on Tuesday ordered the indefinite closure of two pubs that served alcohol to minors, including a builder’s 17-year-old son who later rammed a Porsche Taycan into a motorcycle killing two techies on it. The action comes a day after the excise department filed chargesheets against Cosie and Blak Marriott, both in Mundhwa.

“The pubs have been sealed. After we have received the police report the two establishments will once again be served a detailed show-cause notice. Tuesday’s order was based on violations found prima facie,” Diwase said and added inspections will be carried out in other pubs in the next three days.

Vasant Kausadikar, the senior excise inspector who had filed the chargesheets, told TOI, “We had submitted the file before the collector who then issued orders to shut the pubs till further notice.”

Another excise official said squads will now patrol all areas where such pubs operate at night. “Shutting an FL3 licence is different from suspending it. Suspension of the licence is for a time period while closure of the establishment/licence is until the next time when the case is taken up.” An FL3 licence permits sale of foreign liquor and Indian-made foreign liquor at a restaurant/pub/bar/hotel.

The collector’s orders pertained to show-cause notices issued to the owners of the establishments for violating the Bombay Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953. The violations included selling liquor to minors, not maintaining proper records, and selling liquor without a valid permit, and outside the licensed premises. One of the orders also stated that CCTV footage from May 18 showed minors consuming alcohol at the establishment.

The excise department had accessed CCTV footage showing the minor drinking along with his friends at the two pubs. A police officer had earlier said that the minor and four of his friends visited a pub at 10.40pm on Saturday and had a few drinks. "However, they stepped out at 12.10am on Sunday after pub staff refused to serve them liquor citing closing hours. The group then moved to the other pub where they stayed up to 2am before heading home.”

Anish Awadhia and Ashwini Kosta, both aged 24, hailed from Jabalpur in MP and studied in Pune before taking up jobs with a software company. Koshta had left her job one month ago. On Sunday morning, Aneesh was on his way to drop Koshta at her rented accommodation in Kharadi when the car, driven by the teenager, hit their motorcycle from behind in Kalyaninagar around 2.30am. Police, too, have registered an FIR against the pubs.