Excise dept raids party at Lalit, cites licence issue

The Boiler Room, founded in London, is an online music broadcasting platform which commissions streaming music sessions around the world.

The Delhi government’s Excise department Sunday raided a ‘Boiler Room party’ organised at The Hotel Lalit on Barakhamba Road, claiming that organisers had not procured “required licences for the event”.

Excise department officials claimed they found out about the event after getting their hands on an invite which read: “Boiler Room comes to Delhi for a night of raving”. “We did not find any (narcotic) substances when we raided the premises… they (the hotel staff) switched off the lights and several people managed to flee,” said ACP Alok Kumar, who headed the raid.

The Boiler Room, founded in London, is an online music broadcasting platform which commissions streaming music sessions around the world. “In Delhi, the event was hosted on Sunday, and artists from Italy, Denmark and Mumbai were expected to perform at the event attended by over 5,000 people, the officer said. Police said no FIR has been registered and the organisers are being questioned.

The hotel, in an official statement said: “The Lalit has always been a law abiding organisation. We are cooperating with the authorities to clarify the issues.” The Excise department claimed the event was organised “in the basement which was a violation, as that space could only be used for parking vehicles”.

Officials also claimed that “several bar counters were found in the basement and authorities did not have permissions from NDMC, fire department, Delhi Police and health department”.

“We found that the hotel took 9 P-13 permits for serving liquor in Kitty Su, the crystal ball room and for a pool side party. However, when we raided the location, we found them organising the party at the basement, which is illegal,” Kumar said.

The Excise department also claimed that hotel authorities were involved in selling commercial tickets and sold liquor in the basement for which they had to take P-10 (A) permits costing Rs 1 lakh as per the law. “Instead, they have applied for P-13 permits, paying a fee of Rs 5,000, and this is an evasion of fee,” Kumar said.

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