After Mumbai, pub terror grips Hyderabad

On Tuesday night, a gang of unruly men stalked and attacked a nightclub manager who denied them entry earlier, sending shockwaves across the party circles
If Mumbai’s nightlife is suffering, thanks to ACP Vasant Dhoble’s iron-fisted rule over the city’s hotspots, Hyderabad’s watering holes are handicapped by another terror altogether. Gangs of unruly pehelwans, who’ll do anything to get entry into the city’s clubs, are taking matters into their own hands, quite literally! On Tuesday night, six men who were denied entry into a nightclub earlier, beat up its manager in the pub’s parking lot.
The whole fracas was recorded on CCTV cameras installed in the parking lot and the manager filed a complaint the very night, after seeking medical attention. “I was in my friend’s car when we were being tailed. I didn’t pay it much heed then. But after I got down to walk to my car in the parking lot, I was attacked by a bunch of people, who I realised were the same notorious guys who I’d denied entry into my club earlier. I suffered blows after blows from them for five minutes, before they decided to flee,” says Naren Pal, the manager.
This incident has brought to light the big quandary the city’s nightlife is in. If these loud stag gangs gain entry into pubs, partygoers stand the risk of being terrorised. The beefy guys are ever ready to get into a scuffle, pass lewd comments at female revellers and in most cases, don’t hesitate to beat up their male companions if they dare question their behaviour. And now even the pub’s management is not being spared.
Girls feel unsafe:
This is not an isolated incident. Some of these ruffians don’t hesitate to letch at the ladies and subject them to obscene comments. They don’t care even if the girls are accompanied by male companions. Neha, a young partygoer, recalls an incident when some of these troublemakers passed a suggestive comment as she walked past them in an upmarket restaurant. “I ignored them, but it didn’t go down too well with my friend who was accompanying me. He confronted them, asking if that was how they spoke to women and as a reply, he was held by the neck and lifted off the ground! It was quite scary.”
Pubs in a fix
Nightclub management often find themselves in a tight spot. The ones who are denied entry get into full-blown scuffles and fist fights, questioning the grounds on which they were not allowed inside. The scenario is however, more volatile if the stags are let in. They turn up drunk and most often, create a nuisance or pick up fights with the guests. “Things are getting out of hand. Everyone’s scared to stop them and they flee the scene much before cops arrive. Recently, one gang made a ruckus and damaged the property at a happening nightclub in a star hotel,” says a pub owner.
Bouncers turn victims
Ensuring safety of guests is not as easy as it looks for city bouncers these days. Vijay, who narrowly missed being stabbed with a broken beer bottle by a guest whom he denied entry in a club, says, “I lend bouncers to some pubs in the city and I’m in this field for a decade now. I’ve noticed that these troublemakers are of the idea that they won’t be allowed if just two or three of them turn up. So, they come in gangs of six to eight. Their modus operandi is pure violence. When we are speaking to one of them, the others start hitting us. And it is our job to control them, not hit them back. So, we barely manage to defend ourselves. They pick fights about everything from being denied entry to having to pay cover charges. We try to educate them that so many stags can not be allowed inside and we also encourage them to come with women, but it’s all in vain. It often happens that we and the pub staff have to bear the brunt of their wrath for the sake of the guests.”
Pub brawls on the rise: cops
Acknowledging the rise in violent behaviour in city pubs these days, Punjagutta SI Mirza Wahed Baig, remarks, “One popular nightclub particularly has brawls every two days.”
P Jawaharnath, Punjagutta SI, adds, “Around a month ago, there was a case where one pehalwan from the national circuit was involved in a fist fight in a pub in Somajiguda. However, when I called him following a complaint, he surrendered himself.”
abhishek.raje@timesgroup.com