A man walks with liquor bottles purchased from one of the liquor shops reopened on the outskirts of New Delhi amid COVID-19 outbreak.
Officials of the Delhi government's excise department raided a private alcohol shop in Pitampura for alleged irregularities in barcoding of liquor cases, an official said on Sunday. Based on the complaint of Excise Inspector Satyavrat Bharagava, the Delhi Police had registered an FIR against the shop owner.
According to an FIR, the excise department had conducted a raid on a private liquor shop at DDA market in Pitampura on May 14, 15 and 17. It was found that duplicate barcode was pasted on 12 cases of whisky bottle. All the 12 cases were seized and a case under Section 33 of Delhi Excise Act was registered at Maurya Enclave police station," the FIR stated.
The manager of the store has been apprehended.
The Delhi government has allowed around 160 state-run liquor shops to reopen in the beginning of the third phase of the lockdown on May 4, and a day later, it imposed a 70 per cent 'special corona fee' on the maximum retail price of liquor.
Earlier this month, the government introduced e-token system under which customers are given specific time for purchasing alcohol so that there is no violation of social distancing norms by people queuing up outside liquor stores. The e-token is sent on mobile phones of registered people.
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