The Subway outlet at Hyderabad's Central Mall in the city's Panjagutta, where live cockroaches were allegedly found in a beverage, was shut down on Thursday evening after food safety officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) conducted a raid.
This came one day after city-based businessman Maruganti Vamshikrishna Reddy said that he had found four live cockroaches in a beverage that he had ordered at the outlet.
A video of the incident that went viral, shows a staff member of the outlet behaving rudely with him and accusing him of touching her, whereas the visuals show her trying to seize his phone while he filmed the incident.
He later filed a complaint at the Punjagutta police station and with the GHMC.
Speaking to TNM earlier, Vamshi said, “We went for shopping since it was my daughter’s birthday the next day. After shopping, my daughter felt thirsty and ordered a cool drink. She felt something weird while sipping on it and that’s when we saw cockroaches in the drink.”
According to reports, the officials had issued a show cause notice under the GHMC Sanitation and Hygiene Act and taken samples from kitchen and sent it to the Food Safety Lab in Nacharam.
A case was also booked against the outlet. A video shot during the raid shows cockroaches in the outlet's storage room.
Speaking to TNM Food Safety Inspector, Sudharshan Reddy said, "We have collected the samples and sent it for examination. We haven't closed it. The outlet owner itself said that she will close down the outlet for a week for renovation and pest control."
Further action is expected to be taken.
Meanwhile MBT spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan, who had initially raised the issue with the GHMC on social media, demanded strict action against the outlet for endangering the lives of the citizens.
Alleging that close to 80% of all food outlets in the city were operating under unhygienic conditions, Khan also lamented that the GHMC did not conduct proper timely checks.
The MBT leader also pointed out that the entire GHMC food safety department has only six food inspectors to check the quality of food being supplied across the city.