Fiery cocktail too hot to handle for woman

The flaming drink has claimed yet another victim in the city.

A 42-year-old woman suffered a cut in the mouth while gulping down a glass of a flaming drink at a plush hotel in Whitefield, East Bengaluru, around 11.30 pm on May 3. A flaming drink, or fire shot, is a cocktail served in small glasses that are ignited atop. Customers have to drink it along with the fire.

The victim is a senior executive at an airline service company in New Delhi. She was in Bengaluru to attend a training conference and had been staying at The Den, an Israeli hotel located along ITPL Main Road.

The woman and four of her colleagues met in the restaurant for dinner. After finishing dinner, they decided to try fire shots in the bar.

The bartender asked all of them to close their eyes and gulp down the drink in one go. Everyone, including the woman, followed the instructions.

As the woman took the drink, the fire caused the glass to break. A broken piece ended up in her mouth, leaving a cut in the palate. The woman had the presence of mind to spit it out.

When the group complained to the bar manager and the hotel management, they were accused of causing a ruckus in a drunken stupor.

One of the woman’s colleagues, R C Panwar, took her to a hospital where doctors confirmed she had not ingested any glass piece. The group then went to the Whitefield police station to file a complaint. But the police asked them to come the next day.

“Since they were all drunk and the woman’s injury was minor, we asked them to come the following day,” a senior police officer said.

Police have booked the hotel staff under IPC sections 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Further investigations are underway, the officer added.

Previous incident

A similar incident occurred in February. A 28-year-old woman lawyer suffered severe burns while trying to gulp down a fire shot at a bar on Residency Road. The Ashoknagar police had booked the bar staff for negligence following the incident.