The fight at renaissance Around 3,000 people turned up at the venue that accommodates around 2,000, resulting in a bottle-throwing brawl between the crowds and the bartenders. Trouble started around 10 pm, when the organisers refused to allow people inside despite them showing the passes.
One of the guests, Raj Kumar, said: “I paid Rs 5,000 for the couple entry passes, and my girlfriend and I were made to wait for an hour for a drink. The place was crammed, and there was no question of any dance or other entertainment. We have been cheated.”
The event plunged into such free-for-all that guests started taking away whatever they could find. “I took away five cola bottles out of sheer anger,” Raj Kumar said.
Around 11 pm, at least 30 people forced their way to the dance floor and started smashing chairs, while some threw bottles and plates at the bartenders, who retaliated in a similar manner.
A guest, Vikas Sharma, said: “The dance floor was in a complete mess with food spilled all over and broken plates and bottles strewn around. People were frustrated as they didn’t get anything to eat or drink despite paying big bucks. The party organisers should be sent to jail.”
Senior Inspector Y L Jadhav from Powai Police Station said, “A case of cheating and breach of trust has been filed against the party organisers.” Mokshiva Entertainment officials were not available for comment. A spokesperson from Renaissance said: “It was a private event organised by Mokshiva Entertainment. We regret any inconvenience caused to our guests. The hotel is investigating and reserves the right to pursue further action against the organising firm.”
The first FIR of 2014 was registered at Santacruz Police Station, where more than 50 people turned up to complain against the organisers of a party at Juhu’s Tulip Star Hotel (erstwhile Juhu Centaur Hotel), after celebrations were called off barely an hour after they started because of overcrowding.
While hundreds of revellers couldn’t even enter the venue, those inside alleged the promised ‘unlimited alcohol and food’ was nowhere to be found along with officials of Purple Stone Entertainment, which organised the party.
Even as the crowds went on a rampage, smashing bottles and furniture and jostling with the bouncers, similar scenes were unfolding at the Renaissance in Powai, where the New Year’s Eve party came to an abrupt end at 11.30 pm.
A group of revellers, who weren’t allowed inside, forced their way to the dance floor, and started throwing bottles at the bartenders. The bouncers and the bartenders allegedly retaliated in a similar manner, resulting in an FIR against the event organisers, Mokshiva Entertainment.
The officials of both firms, and owners of the Tulip Star, have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 34 (acts done by several people in furtherance of common intention) but no arrests have been made.
The Tulip Star ruckus
Passes for the event, titled ‘NYE – Macau Midnight Madness’ had been sold online for Rs 2,000 to Rs 8,000, and around 7,000 people turned up at the venue that could accommodate only around 4,000. The invites, which were home delivered, said the party will start at 8 pm, but it began only around 10 pm, by which time hundreds of people had been stranded outside.
One of the complainants, Santacruz resident Nikhil Doshi, said he had paid Rs 3,800 for the couple entry passes. “My wife and I were shocked when we reached the venue around 10.15 pm. We had expected a rocking New Year’s Eve party, but we saw people banging the ticket counters to get passes by showing online booking printouts,” Doshi said.
The complainants said the organisers had promised international and Indian DJs, and dancers from Macau, but none of the artistes turned up. Even after the venue was overcrowded, the organisers were selling more tickets by charging Rs 5,000 per person, they alleged.
Around 10.30 pm, people started breaking bottles and cutlery, and smashed chairs on the tables. Madhukar Sharma, 21, a chartered accountancy student whose group of seven friends purchased passes worth Rs 2,000 each, said there was no food and the organisers fled the venue.
“Some people grabbed the mic on the stage and demanded refunds. There was a stampede, a few men fought with the bouncers and it was crazy. Police came in around 11 pm,” Sharma said.
Reena Dewnani, a doctor from Khar and one of the guests at the event, said the organisers should not be spared. “We got the passes delivered at our residence. I along with my family and friends had paid about Rs 13,000. Three children were with us as the organisers claimed there would be a kids’ zone as well. We reached the venue around 9 pm and there was complete chaos an hour later,” she said. Senior Inspector Arun Chavan from Santacruz Police Station said, “The event organisers and the hotel owners have been booked and investigations are on.”
Source: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/crime/Crowds-bartenders-hurl-bottles-at-each-other-over-lack-of-food-and-alcohol/articleshow/28257712.cms
