Late night on November 13, 2016, the peace at WHC Road, Dharampeth, Nagpur, was disturbed yet again when some miscreants opened fire at Lahoree Deluxe Bar and Restaurant’s owner Manoj Sharma’s nephew Sameer Sharma, who takes care of the day-to-day management of the bar.

Reacting to the incident, Manoj Sharma told Nation Next in a telephonic conversation from Bangkok that he’s quite agitated with the daredevilry of the miscreants, who attacked Lahoree and shot at his nephew Sameer Sharma on Nov 13. “These criminal elements not only opened fire at my nephew Sameer but they also tried to attack the policemen there, who had come to help us, after we informed the police about how a few of them were creating ruckus. Maybe, they couldn’t identify the policemen, who were present outside Lahoree, as it was dark out there. When they realised the presence of the police, they fled the spot. But I’m really happy with the way Nagpur Police have handled the situation. Police have nabbed few of the criminals, and searching for rest of them.”

On asking whether he feels insecure about doing business in the night, after this incident, he said laughing,” Not at all! We’ve been serving people in our restaurants for past 35 years. And we have a robust security set in place to take care of such miscreants. Moreover, Nagpur Police are very efficient in protecting people from such criminal elements. I’m shocked at the way the Nagpur’s youth is getting involved in hooliganism and criminal activities. They should realise that they are spoiling their own lives by being on the wrong side of the law. I’m happy to see that they are being sternly dealt with.”

When Nation Next spoke to Sameer Sharma about the reason behind the attackon him, he said, “On Nov 13 evening, a guy named Pawan Chaudhary misbehaved with a girl and forced her to dance with him at Lahoree. When her male friend objected to this, Pawan misbehaved with him as well. The security staff at our restaurant then intervened and forced Pawan out of our establishment. He then went back saying that he’d be back. Sensing trouble, we called up the police who reached the restaurant quickly. Pawan then came back with his friends and they started firing at us, not knowing that the police were present too! Once they realised it, they quickly ran away!”

Our source at Sitabuldi Police station informed Nation Next that the police have already nabbed Pawan Chaudhary, Harshal Raut, Swapnil Bhoyar, Akash Chauhan and Milind Borkar, and they are in search of Pappu Dagor and Sheikhu Khan, who was also the main accused in the murder of BJP Yuva Morcha Chief Hemant Diyewar, who was killed at Shankar Nagar square in 2013. The court had acquitted Sheikhu of the crime later.

Reacting to reports, which claim that Lahoree staff and Sameer had also fired in retaliation and bashed up Pawan, Sameer says, “We are always blamed for no reason! Why would I fire or do anything when the police were present? The police are well-equipped to handle things like these. They were there to protect us. Moreover, these people who created ruckus are hardcore criminals with serious cases against them!”