Gurgaon restaurant that served dry ice as mouth freshener arrested

Gurugram: The Gurugram Police Tuesday arrested the manager of a local restaurant where five friends got severe cuts in their mouths and started vomiting after having a mouth freshener which allegedly had dry ice mixed in it, officials said.

They said Laforestta, the cafe-cum-restaurant in Sector 90, was found locked on Tuesday when a police team visited there. "We will issue a notice to the owner also to join the investigation," said Surender Sheoran, ACP Manesar.

According to the police, the arrested manager is 30-year-old Gagandeep, a resident of Kirti Nagar in Delhi, who joined the cafe three months ago.

"In the preliminary interrogation, the arrested manager said it was due to negligence by the restaurant staff that a packet of mouth freshener and dry ice got mixed mistakenly. He said there was no ill-intention towards the guests and what happened was unfortunate," said a senior police officer.

Police said two of the five people are still hospitalised.

Ashwani Rustagi, a relative of one of the victims, said, "It is a very big negligence on the part of the restaurant and action should be taken against the owner." According to the complaint lodged by Ankit Kumar, a resident of Greater Noida, they had gone to Laforestta restaurant in Sector 90 on the night of March 3. They were given a mouth freshener after their dinner.

As soon as they had the mouth freshener they got a burning sensation in their mouth and they started vomiting, he said, adding they were taken to a hospital after their health deteriorated.

A video of the incident, which has gone viral on social media, showed the five friends purportedly vomiting blood.

"After getting information about the victims from the hospital, police reached the spot and an FIR was registered. We also visited the Laforestta Cafe and restaurant, but it was found locked," Sheoran said.

"Today, I again visited the restaurant but it is still locked. We have arrested the manager of the restaurant and he is being produced in a city court. We will issue a notice to the owner of the restaurant to join the investigation", he said.