A man claiming to be a Zomato delivery person was caught transporting country-made liquor in Andhra’s Kakinada town on Saturday. The man, who was wearing a red t-shirt and carrying a Zomato delivery bag, was carrying around 30 litres of illicitly distilled liquor in transparent plastic bags inside the delivery bag.
On receiving information, Sarpavaram police intercepted him near Padma Nagar of RTC Colony in Kakinada.
“He was bringing the liquor brewed in fields in the nearby Pithapuram town. He was planning to sell it in the neighbourhoods in the town,” Kakinada Rural Circle Inspector Govinda Raju said.
While the man is claiming to be a Zomato employee, police say that they are yet to confirm that this is true. The man has been booked under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code, apart from the relevant sections of the Andhra Pradesh Prohibition Act.
Kakinada is part of East Godavari district, where 45 COVID-19 cases have been recorded so far, of which 20 people have recovered.
With liquor stores remaining closed due to the lockdown, production of country-made liquor has continued in many places.
The Andhra Pradesh government had recently lifted restrictions on toddy tapping, after the Centre allowed relaxations of lockdown rules for agriculture and horticulture related activities. The state government has allowed toddy tapping work to resume, while maintaining physical distancing and other protocols for COVID-19 prevention.
From May 4 onwards, liquor shops are set to open everywhere, except in containment zones. The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued guidelines saying the sale of liquor, paan and tobacco will be allowed, but only with a minimum of six feet of physical distance between people, and with small groups of not more than five people allowed to gather at a time in any shop.
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