After Mumbai police raided the home of Priti Chandriani, the 55-year old was taken away and held in custody overnight while her cookery books were impounded.

The action was prompted by a "tip-off" that she had been making liquor-filled chocolates in her kitchen - an illegal act under a largely forgotten decades-old law.

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Ms Chandriani is the latest person to be caught up in a campaign against "immoral activity" led by assistant commissioner of police Vasant Dhoble, which many fear is bringing Mumbai back to the days of prohibition.

Mumbai ended prohibition in 1973, but the Bombay [Mumbai] Prohibition Act of 1949 remains on the books, along with other archaic laws, such as the Bombay Police Act of 1951 - a broad ordinance covering violations including noise control and overcrowding that has rarely been enforced.

The prohibition law requires Indians to carry a permit to consume alcohol which can be obtained with a doctor's prescription or "for medicinal use on emergent occasions". Foreigners also need a permit, but they can often be obtained on the spot in a bar at a rate of Rs 5 for a day or Rs 1,000 for a lifetime permit.

For the past year, Mr Dhoble has used the legislation to crack down on nightlife venues, private parties and homes across the city, issuing fines for alcohol consumption. Some female bar patrons have been accused of prostitution - a potentially devastating charge for housewives and students in a country where a person's reputation is considered paramount.

Mr Dhoble insists that he is sticking to the letter of existing laws. But many fear that the clampdown will damage Mumbai's reputation as a fun-loving dynamic global city and emerging financial hub.

India is a conservative country, but Mumbai has always been its most liberal outpost, home to flamboyant Bollywood stars and an all-night street culture.

But the city also has a moralistic streak "that seems to reassert itself every few years and it is always beaten back down," says Naresh Fernandes, former editor of Time Out Mumbai and author of a book on the city's mid-20th century jazz age.

"At one time they [the local authorities] wanted to appeal to a conservative constituency ? [but] going to a bar or a pub has become a very normal thing to do even for kids who work in call-centres, so I'm not sure who this shocks any more."

Even the Shiv Sena, the conservative Hindu nationalist party known for shutting down local restaurants that celebrate Valentine's day because of its "corrupting" western influence, have condemned the wave of raids, worrying that they have tarnished Mumbai's standing as a financial capital.

"Mumbai is a maya nagari [magical city] with a colourful life of its own. People get attracted to this city," read a recent editorial in the party's official newspaper, Saamna. "Mumbai's ethos should be kept alive. No need to turn the city into a dead body."

The owner of one restaurant that Mr Dhoble recently shut down for a night, who did not wish to be named fearing retribution, lamented the change in the city he moved to eight years ago.

"The first time I came to India I [was out until] 5 o'clock in the morning and it was allowed," he says. "So things have obviously changed drastically."

Mr Dhoble has been accused in the media of being both too moralistic and using excessive force, after a video surfaced of him wielding a hockey stick while raiding a juice stand. He told the Financial Times that he was "unable to discuss such matters".

But in recent interviews with local media, Mr Dhoble has said that the police "must step in when immoral, illegal activities are conducted under the garb of fun".

The Bombay High Court last week dismissed a defamation suit brought against Mr Dhoble by two women for Rs10m (USD 180,000) each. They had been taken into custody under suspicion of being prostitutes while attending a birthday party at a suburban Mumbai eatery earlier this month. One of the women was later identified as a housewife visiting her sister.