CHENNAI: In overnight raids starting late on Saturday, the city police arrested 23 people from 19 clubs and other establishments in south Chennai for illegal sale of liquor to non-members and other violations of food licence rules.Investigators said the raids followed multiple complaints about violations of FL2 licences (possession of liquor by a non-proprietary clubs for supply to members and their guests) under the Tamil Nadu Liquor (License and Permit) Rules, 1981. Police commissioner A K Viswanathan ordered the searches of suspected establishments.The state permits sale of liquor by hotels and other FL3 licence-holders who operate out of multi-storey buildings with rooms for guests, a senior police officer said. Various clubs in Chennai with FL2 licences, however, do not limit the sale of alcohol to members and their guests but function like bars, selling liquor indiscriminately to all patrons, the officer said.Special police teams raided clubs — some run by senior officials and politicos — along Anna Salai and in Nungambakkam, Adyar, Saidapet, Pallikaranai, Tambaram, Ramala Nagar, Triplicane and Neelankarai, he said.After checks to see if the customers were members of the clubs, police arrested managers and other senior employees, including cashiers and assistant managers, at establishments where they detected infractions of licence rules.“These clubs violated the rules by serving liquor on a regular basis to non-members,” the officer said. “The non-members in these places, we found, had no connection to club members and were not their guests.”Police questioned customers to whom the clubs were illegally serving alcohol before letting them off. During the raids, conducted simultaneously by teams led by inspectors, police found several clubs violating other rules, including serving liquor past the 11pm deadlineAmong the clubs police were Kipling Cafe, Evoke and Café 97 — all on East Coast Road, Paddington Sports Pub, Nandanam, Super and Super Recreation Club, Besant Nagar and Shastri Nagar Sharks, Adyar. Police permitted the clubs to open on Sunday. However, the department will, in consultation with senior officials, decide further course of action against violators, senior officers said.Many of the establishments police raided were defunct clubs whose owners handed over to others to operate under different names, investigators said.The state, with powers vested in it under the TN Prohibition Act, 1937, grants bars licences and permits for the sale of liquor. It currently regulates the sale of liquor under the TN Liquor Rules, 1981. Section 24 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937, makes violation of licence conditions a non-bailable offence.

Stay updated with all the Chennai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.