KOLKATA: At least 37 people, including 20 women, were arrested in the early hours of Sunday from a five star hotel in the city for partying in defiance of the ongoing restrictions to combat COVID-19 pandemic, an officer said.
An FIR was lodged against the hotel authorities and they were called for questioning in connection with the matter, he added.
Two high-end vehicles along with several other materials including 38 mobile phones and two sets of guests' lists were seized, he said.
"Acting on a tip-off, a raid was conducted at the Park Hotel at around 01.15 hrs and 37 people were arrested from the 2nd and 3rd floor for partying with loud DJ music defying the restrictions of Government order during COVID-19 and spreading infectious disease," he said.
"During the raid, some of the arrested persons pushed and manhandled police officials preventing them from discharging their duties," he added.
Two pioneer DJ discs, one amplifier, two sound boxes, one DJ light, three hookahs, four liquor bottles, four empty glasses and one ganja puria were also seized, the police officer said.
Police were trying to find out whether some other banned drugs were used in the party or not, he added.
A case was regitered at the Park Street Police Station under relevant sections of the IPC as well as under the Disaster Management Act, the officer said.
A forensic team visited the hotel and collected samples from the two floors of the hotel, where the party was held on Saturday night, the officer said.
Hotel authorities said that they had strictly followed all norms to keep the bars and restaurants inside the hotel open.
The West Bengal government has eased coronavirus restrictions in the state and allowed bars and restaurants to operate from a particular time in the day following improvement in COVID-19 pandemic situation.
The COVID-19 tally in West Bengal mounted to 15,12,129 on Sunday as 924 more people tested positive for the infection, while 13 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 17,916, a health department bulletin said.
The discharge rate in the state rose to 97.83 per cent with 1,314 more people recovering from the disease since Saturday, it said.
West Bengal now has 14,901 active cases, while 14,79,312 people have so far been cured of the disease.
Four fresh fatalities were reported from Nadia district, two each from Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and Darjeeling while one person each succumbed to the infection in Hooghly, Howrah and Jalpaiguri, it said.
North 24 Parganas recorded the highest number of new cases at 94, followed by Purba Medinipur at 87, Kolkata at 82 and Darjeeling at 80, the bulletin said.
Altogether, 1,47,69,734 samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far, the bulletin said.