Liquor shop looted in Delhi amid lockdown

A case of alcohol craving or an attempt to make a quick buck? Unidentified people broke into a wine shop in the National capital in the wee hours of Saturday and left with "some liquor bottles and crates", amid a lockdown in the country due to COVID-19.

The incident was reported from Roshanara Road in the morning by a police patrolling party. When the police party was moving around, they found that the shutter of the wine shop of the Delhi Consumer Cooperative Whole Store (DCCWS) was open.

As no wine shops are allowed to function during the lockdown, suspicious policemen immediately checked the spot. Manager of DCCWS Ramesh was informed.

"The shutter of wine shop had been forcibly pulled up and some liquor bottles and crates had been stolen," a senior police official said adding that cases under sections 380 (theft) and 457 (trespass in the night) of the Indian Penal Code has been reported.

The exact quantity of liquor stolen could not be ascertained and would only be done after remaining stock is tallied.

A similar case was reported in Hyderabad where owners of a wine shop found out that an unidentified man looted liquor worth Rs 25,000 and Rs 8,000 in cash. The incident had happened on March 31, but the owners came to know about it on Friday only after they examined the CCTV footage and found that there was no feed from the cameras.

Finding that there is no footage, they went to the shop where they found that the wires of the camera installed at the entrance were cut, PTI reported. Examining the shop, they found out that liquor and cash were missing, following which they informed excise and police officials.

Last week in Hubballi, unidentified men had entered the Mysuru Sales International Ltd liquor shop by breaking the shutters and decamped with beer and other liquor bottles. Liquor shops in Karnataka are shut since March 24.