Bengaluru police inspect 400–500 pubs and bars in late-night crackdown

• Around 1,500 police personnel inspected 400–500 pubs and bars across Bengaluru in an operation that continued until 2 a.m. on Saturday.

• The checks focused on closing times, underage drinking and compliance with licensing conditions.

• Police also set up road checkpoints to detect drink-driving and other offences.

Around 1,500 police personnel inspected 400–500 pubs and bars across Bengaluru in a late-night operation to check compliance with closing times, restrictions on serving alcohol to minors and licensing conditions.

Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh led the crackdown, which continued until 2 a.m. on Saturday. Nineteen IPS officers, including two Joint Commissioners, participated alongside jurisdictional police teams and personnel from the Central Crime Branch.

Establishments on Brigade Road, including Brigade Garden and Page 3, were among those inspected. Police also carried out checks in Koramangala, around Anand Rao Circle and at other locations across the city.

Speaking to reporters, Singh said the operation was intended to ensure that establishments observed their prescribed closing deadlines and did not serve alcohol to underage customers. Jurisdictional Deputy Commissioners of Police would examine these issues, he added.

“There is a deadline for pubs, and raids were conducted to check whether they are complying with it. Underage drinking should not be allowed,” Singh said.

He added that officers were on the ground to ensure the public was not inconvenienced.

Police said the checks sought to enforce the 1 a.m. deadline for closing kitchens, stopping liquor service and clearing customers from the premises.

Officers also examined whether establishments were operating within the terms of their licences. At venues holding licences for ladies’ pubs, the inspections included checks on the admission of minors and whether dance performances breached licence conditions.

Road checkpoints formed another part of the operation, with teams screening for drink-driving and other suspected offences.

During the inspections, staff at several bars, clubs and restaurants asked customers to leave as the establishments closed.

Police are expected to review suspected violations identified during the operation and take action against establishments found to have breached the rules.

With IANS inputs