HYDERABAD: The Telangana government, which is yet to permit the sale of liquor in the state, is keeping a close watch on the wine shop traders to check if they are selling alcohol in violation of lockdown rules in the state. As part of their raids, the police have arrested five persons who were selling liquor in two different locations at Nizamabad and Yousufguda.

Nizamabad Task force police seized 24 liquor bottles during their raid on the house of liquor shop owner D Rakesh who resides in Bheemgal village of Nizamabad. In a separate raid, Banjara Hills police seized Rs.30,000 worth liquor bottles from Sri Durga Bar and Restaurant in LN Nagar near Yousufguda and took three persons into custody.

Last week, Telangana Task Force sleuths raided the Secret Affairs pub located in Jubliee Hills area of Hyderabad and sealed it for violating the lockdown rules. The organizers were charged with selling alcohol in the pub during the COVID-19 lockdown. Taskforce officers in that raid seized liquor bottles worth Rs.15 lakh and took the owner of the pub into custody.

Even after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao warned of stern action against those who are found violating the lockdown rules, some owners of wine shops and pubs kept on doing business in open defiance of the lockdown curbs. Some of them allegedly had a field day selling liquor at astronomically high prices cashing in on the huge demand for liquor during this lockdown period.

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