A person was arrested on Tuesday by the police in Hyderabad for allegedly creating a fake Government Order (GO), which claimed that liquor shops would be reopened in Telangana, amidst the lockdown over COVID-19.
Sunny from the city's Uppal area was held during the course of investigation following a complaint by the Excise Department, as the fake GO was widely shared on social media last week.
The fake message said, "All the state-wide wine shops will remain open from March 29, 2020 between 2 pm and 5 30 pm. Five excise constables will be deployed at each shop to maintain social distancing among the visitors.”
City Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said that the arrest was a warning to those who wanted to create or circulate fake news during times of crisis.
The Excise Department had said that the notification was fake and it had not issued any such order. As per the instructions of the Telangana government, all retail shops of liquor (over 2,400 liquor retail outlets and over 700 bars in Telangana) shall remain closed during the lockdown period as part of the fight against COVID-19.
The Telangana Chief Minister's Office on Monday night announced the death of six people due to COVID-19. After it emerged that all six of the COVID-19 fatalities in Telangana had attended a religious congregation at Nizamuddin in New Delhi, the state has intensified its efforts to locate all those who returned from the event and trace their contact trail.
The state government is seeking cooperation from all those persons who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat at the Markaz mosque in Nizamuddin between March 13 and March 15, asking them to report to authorities in their area.