Bollywood actor Aditya Panhcoli lived up to his hooligan image yet again, as he was arrested in the small hours of Sunday after he—in an inebriated state—went on a rampage and allegedly smashed the head of a bouncer with his mobile handset at a posh club at Santa Cruz in north-west Mumbai. Fifty-year-old Pancholi was later in the day released on bail by a holiday court.
Pancholi, who has been involved in several drunken brawls and fisticuffs in the past, was at it again, when he went to the Trilogy pub in Hotel Sea Princess on Juhu Tara Road late on Saturday night. The actor got wild after the disc jockey (DJ) working at the pub refused to play Hindi songs as requested him. The miffed actor hurled abuses at the DJ and bouncers who tried to intervene and pacify him. He instantly rushed to the counter of the pub and damaged things placed there.
later, while he was being escorted out of the pub, Pancholi hit the head of a bouncer Mandar Patole (29) using his mobile handset. The injured Patole was rushed to the nearby Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BM)-run Bhabha Hospital, where he had five stitches in the head. Before long, the police arrived on the scene, arrested Pancholi and took him to the Bhabha Hospital, where it was clinically confirmed that the actor was under the influence of alcohol at the time incident.
Senior inspector at the Santa Cruz police station Padmakar Chavan said that the actor indulged in brawl at around 12.45 am after the DJ declined to play Hindi films songs as requested by the latter --instead of English numbers he was playing at that time.“After hurling abuses at the DJ and bouncers, the actor created scene and hit bouncer Patole with his mobile handset while he was being escorted out of the pub,” the police officer said.
The actor, who arrested and booked under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code, was later in the day produced before a magistrate’s court. The holiday court, which initially remanded him in judicial custody till March 20, later granted bail to the actor against a cash surety of Rs50,000 and directed him to surrender his mobile phone used at the time of the incident, to the police.