Mumbai: 'Bigg Boss' winner Munawar Faruqui briefly detained after raid at hookah parlour

Munawar Faruqui, Bigg Boss 17 winner and stand-up comedian, on late Tuesday night was briefly detained by the Mumbai police after he was found smoking hookah with 14 others during a raid in Mumbai. They were later released, as per news agency PTI. 

Mumbai Police's Social Service branch conducted the raid at a hookah parlour located in the Bora Bazar area of Fort at around 10:30 pm on Tuesday. The raid continued till around 5 am on Wednesday, as per an official.

In this raid, the police seized a total of Rs 4,400 in cash and nine hookah pots worth Rs 13,500. Further investigation into the matter is currently underway. 

"During the raid, the police found stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui and others smoking hookahs at the joint. We also have a video of their act. We detained Faruqui and others, but they were later allowed to go as the sections slapped against them were bailable," PTI quoted a senior police official as saying. 

Police acted on information that some customers were smoking tobacco-based hookahs at the parlour in the guise of smoking herbal hookahs, the official said. 

Faruqui and others were booked under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act as well as Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), as per the official.

Munawar Faruqui grabbed national headlines for the first time in 2021 when he was imprisoned for a month after complaints that he hurt religious sentiments when he made remarks on Hindu deities during a stand-up show.

Faruqui has also been seen in shows like Coldd Lassi Aur Chicken Masala and Lock Upp Season 1 apart from Bigg Boss 17. In Coldd Lassi Aur Chicken Masala, Faruqui featured as a roast comic.

Faruqui entered Lock Upp, a reality show where contestants lived in a jail and performed tasks to earn money as inmates. Munawar Faruqui won the show's first season.