Gujarat police raid Paan Parlour near Rajpath Club, seize banned e-cigarettes

Ahmedabad: The State Monitoring Cell of Gujarat Police on Thursday night raided the upscale ‘Papa Go Paan Parlour’ on Rajpath Rangoli Road, seizing a large stock of e-cigarettes, foreign cigarettes, and cigars worth ₹5 lakh. The shop owner, Manan Patel, and his employee, Mohit Vishwakarma, were arrested.

Acting on a tip-off about the illegal sale of banned e-cigarettes, the State Monitoring Cell conducted a raid at the parlour, located in the Salistar Complex behind Rajpath Club. Investigators found that the accused were storing e-cigarettes and refills in two parked cars. Customers were secretly taken to the parking lot, where Mohit would hand over the products. The police recovered ₹4.24 lakh in cash, 110 e-cigarettes, 252 foreign cigarettes, 47 cigars, and 15 e-cigarette refills.

Officials confiscated two cars, ₹4 lakh in cash, and the seized tobacco products, bringing the total value of the recovered items to ₹43 lakh. The parlour owner was reportedly paying ₹2 lakh in monthly rent.

During interrogation, Manan revealed that he had been sourcing e-cigarettes from Basit, alias Shaban, a Mumbai-based supplier, for the past three months. He placed orders over the phone, and Shaban sent the stock via transport services, with payments made through an angadia courier network.

Police investigations also revealed that a significant number of customers purchasing e-cigarettes from the parlour were school and college students, many of whom were regular buyers. Mohit would escort these young customers to the parking lot, where he handed over the products from the parked vehicles. DeshGujarat