Bengaluru police has booked the owner of a liquor store in the city after a customer purchased liquor worth for Rs 52,841 and his bill was circulated on social media.
In Bengaluru, restrictions were put in place allowing liquor stores to sell only three bottles of spirits and six bottles of 650 ML beer or 12 bottles of 330 ML beer per person.
However, an unidentified customer who shopped at Vanilla Spirit Zone, a liquor outlet on Tavarekere Main Road in the city, purchased liquor worth Rs 52,841. A first information report was filed against the owner of the liquor store.
"We have booked a case against licensed shop owner S Venkatesh for reportedly selling Indian made liquor (IMFL) and beer to a buyer on Monday more than he is permitted under the Karnataka Excise Act section 36," Bengaluru South Excise Deputy Commissioner A Giri said.
"Preliminary investigation revealed that 17.4 litres of IML was sold against the permissible limit of 2.3 litres and 35.1 litres of beer against the legal limit of 18.2 litres," Giri added.
Venkatesh, however, told the police that the buyer paid for the liquor bought by him and seven of his colleagues at the same time from the shop as they entered together. "We are investigating to ascertain if Venkatesh violated the license conditions by paying for liquor bought by his friends with him at the same time," Giri added.
Excise department officials said that they are also trying to trace the customer who bought the liquor.
Another bill reportedly from an outlet in Dollars Colony in Bengaluru showed that liquor worth Rs 95,347 was bought. The police and the excise department is investigating this bill too to check if the liquor store violated regulations.
Liquor stores opened across the state for the first time in over a month on Monday, prompting long queues outside stores. The state excise department estimated that liquor worth Rs 45 crore was sold in the state on Monday.
3.9 lakh litres of beer and 8.5 lakh litres of liquor were sold from 9 am in the morning to 7 pm in the evening on Monday. An Excise department official stated that the value of the sale of liquor in the state before the lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak, was between Rs 90-95 crore.