Illegal bar, run mostly for Chinese nationals, busted in Greater Noida

"Everything in the facility was designed in Chinese style. Its bar and restaurant had items mentioned in Chinese script with no mark of Hindi or English anywhere," an official told news agency PTI.

REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE (CREDITS: PTI)

Noida: The Greater Noida Police in Uttar Pradesh have busted an illegal luxury bar being run in a clandestine manner with Chinese nationals living in India as its major patrons, officials said on Thursday. The three-storey facility, located in Gharbara village with its interiors designed in traditional Chinese style, was busted on Tuesday night, close on the heels of the arrest of a Chinese national who had been living in India illegally since 2020, a senior official said.

"Everything in the facility was designed in Chinese style. Its bar and restaurant had items mentioned in Chinese script with no mark of Hindi or English anywhere. It is suspected that illegal activities like drug abuse were also being carried out there," the official, privy to the probe, told news agency PTI.

"The three-storey building mostly had Chinese nationals as frequent visitors and guests. Among the Indians, some people from Northeast have also been found to be patrons of this facility, which was being run in a clandestine manner in the village in Greater Noida," the official added.

No arrest was made on the spot, though the police said the investigation into the whole episode has widened with central government agencies and those specialising in dealing with foreigners.

When contacted, Gautam Buddh Nagar excise department officials confirmed to PTI that the facility did not have any license to serve liquor.

"They had applied for occasional party license but that was in the past. No license permit was sought by them in recent times," an excise officer added.

Chinese national Xue fei aka Kelay, 36, and his Indian girlfriend Petekhrinuo, 22, who hails from Nagaland, were arrested from a hotel in Gurugram, Haryana, by UP's Gautam Buddh Nagar Police on Monday.

They were held on the basis of information given by two Chinese nationals, who were arrested on the Nepal-India border in Bihar on Saturday last week by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) as they were trying to cross over into the Himalayan nation after staying in India illegally, the police said.

During the probe, these two Chinese nationals had informed the police in Sitamarhi district of Bihar that they had been staying in India with a friend in Greater Noida, prompting a search and investigation into the matter.

Xue fei and Petekhrinuo were staying in a housing society in Greater Noida but had fled to Gurugram after they got to know that the police had started looking for them, according to officials.

Earlier the police had recovered forged documents such as an Aadhaar card and an Indian passport from the possession of Xue fei. He and his Indian girlfriend had told the police that they were engaged in a mobile phone spare parts business in Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar but their claims turned out to be false, police officials said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Minakshi Katyayan said, "The offences that have come to light involve foreigners also and are very serious in nature. A thorough investigation is being carried out in the case. Central probe agencies have also been informed and we are coordinating with them to get to the root of the case."

Both Xue fei and Peterkhrinuo are currently in judicial custody but the police will soon seek their remand for interrogation, Katyayan said.