123Pune.com

MUMBAI/LONAVLA: The Lonavla police on Wednesday morning arrested 22 customs officers and 10 bar girls for alleged obscene behaviour at a party organised at Taj Cottages, a bungalow resort in Lonavla.

The TV footage of the police raid being beamed on a Hindi news channel since Wednesday morning sent shockwaves in the customs department, which went into a huddle and did not react till late in the evening to media queries about the incident.

Of the 22 customs officials, 12 are superintendents while the remaining are of inspector rank. They were all released on bail on Wednesday along with the bar girls and their five associates.

Senior police inspector, Lonavla City, S Darekar, said that all the accused were charged under Section 292 of the IPC for indecency and under the Bombay Prohibition of Liquor Act. "When we raided the bungalow post-midnight on Wednesday, we found that the customs officials were merrily showering currency notes on the dancing girls," said Darekar. Taj Cottages belongs to one Mohammed Yusuf.

All the accused customs officials are Mumbai-based, and refused to talk to journalists after their release. While some of the customs officers are part of the Sahar international airport staff who clear passengers, the others are Air Intelligence officers, who primarily book smugglers.

They had apparently finished their day shift on Tuesday evening and left on a private bus along with the ten girls from Mumbai. Some of them were found semi-nude when the police raided the bungalow, sources said.

According to the FIR filed by the police, Rs 2,08,187 were seized from the place. The Lonavla police were tipped off by the TV channel which in turn had been tipped off by someone from the customs department itself.

When the police raided the bungalow, the party had just begun and a porn CD was playing on a laptop. Two DJs have also been arrested.

Chief Commissioner of customs, Hariom Tiwari, who is also in charge of the airport, had not yet suspended the officers till late Wednesday evening, contrary to expectations of most of the senior officers in the department.

Commissioner of the airport Tarun Kumar Govil was ensconced with Tiwari and officers from the commissioner (general's) office all afternoon. So embarrassed were airport customs officials that a query from journalists about the number of the commissioner, elicited a response: "We don't have his number."

Late on Wednesday, Govil said that the officers had been asked to present themselves before him on Thursday and after hearing them, further action would be decided. The police are trying to find out if drugs were used in the party.

Police have also arrested six organisers and the caretaker of the bungalow where the raid took place.

Police have indicated that pornographic material, a laptop and Rs 55,000 was seized from the bungalow.

The officers were apparently watching a pornographic film on the laptop and the girls were in a semi nude state when the police raided the place.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/Pune_22_customs_men_held_with_ba...
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/22-govt-officials-caught-with-bar-girls-in-p...