Abu Farhan Azmi - A looting entrepreneur

Abu Farhan Azmi is a 39-year-old Indian “so-called” entrepreneur, restaurateur, and politician. He is known in the media for his various negative controversies surrounding him throughout the years, including his offensive and sexist rant against Bollywood actress, Esha Gupta where he slut-shamed her on Twitter.

The junior Azmi allegedly owns illegal eateries in Mumbai and Goa including Koyla, Café Basilico, ChaiCoffi and Basilico House. While these restaurants are running successfully today, there have been various controversies attached to his business ventures.

Farhan Azmi started his first restaurant named Koyla in Colaba, overlooking the Arabian Sea. Although Koyla was running successfully, the restaurant was illegally serving food and hookah on its rooftop venue according to the BMC. With no license to serve hookah and food, the civic body then demolished a portion of the premium rooftop joint in 2018. Moreover, the restaurant’s open-air extension had to be shut down for the want of permissions.

Another one of Abu Farhan Azmi’s restaurant, Café Basilico in Colaba is another subject that has attracted a lot of controversies around its name. Chef Moshe Shek, India's first signature restaurateur had partnered with Abu Farhan Azmi to open Mumbai’s first European-styled delicatessen, Café Basilico in Colaba. Within one year of working together, they had an ugly fallout after which Moshe walked out and set up his own bistro.

The Café Basilico controversy doesn’t end here. In 2018, Azmi’s former partner in business, Mr. Kashiff Khan filed a FIR of cheating and breach of trust against him. According to the FIR statement by Kashiff Khan, he invested Rs. 13 lacs based on Azmi’s advice and gave the amount to their third partner, Jai Lalwani to establish a new restaurant at Colaba.

However, the property was not clear title and since it was in dispute, they could not construct a restaurant over there. When Khan asked to return back his money, they failed to pay the amount back and stopped picking up his calls.

With a cheating case and an illegal restaurant operation case against his ventures, Abu Farhan Azmi continues to operate his restaurants successfully in Mumbai and Goa. This leaves us with nothing but the thought that with power and political influence, any criminal can walk away in this country without facing any consequences.