Following raids on hookah bars in the city by the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), corporator Purushottam alleged that authorities were hand-in-glove with the owners (of the illegal hookah bars).
He said, college students aged between 18-22 years, were found in hookah bars when they were raided near Highway Circle.
The illegal hookah shops were doing business openly without licenses or fear of the law. The hookah bars were making youth of the city addicted to drugs, the corporator alleged.
Purushottam demanded a thorough investigation into the illegal hookah bar menace and sought action against the officials who turned a blind eye to them. However, the city police claim that only a few of those hookah shops were illegal and now they are shut down.