Amid the COVID-19 lockdown, a 30-year-old Telangana man's eagerness to get more 'likes' for his video on social media landed him in trouble after a clip showing him distributing liquor to a group of labourers went viral. The man was later arrested by the authorities in Hyderabad.
The Excise Department booked the man for illegal possession and consumption of liquor on a 'Dry Day' and under relevant sections of the Telangana Excise and Prohibition Act. Liquor shops and bars across Telangana have been closed in view of the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Later, the man and another person who had assisted him in the act were arrested, a senior official told PTI on Monday.
According to the official, the man recorded the video distributing alcohol to daily wage labourers, including some women, near a toddy shop at Champapet in Hyderabad on Sunday and uploaded it on TikTok and other social media.
In the clip, he is seen pouring liquor in some glasses being held by another person, the official said, adding the man was "inspired by a similar act the video of which had gone viral in Punjab recently".
Watch the video below.
Man distributes free alcohol to labourers (one-peg each) in Hyderabad who desperately needed it. He had some stock left with him and tried to help out people who can't sustain without alcohol. Good or bad? pic.twitter.com/Z91XkwRVr9
— Nirupam Banerjee (@nirupamban) April 13, 2020
While the man claimed that he had seen the daily wage labourers experiencing withdrawal symptoms and decided to help them by giving them alcohol, authorities said he did it to 'go viral' on social media.
"This is sheer eagerness to get more likes for his video. Based on instructions from our higher officials, we lodged a case against the two and arrested them on Sunday midnight," the official said.
Just earlier this week, the Bolarum police in Hyderabad took three people into custody after they were caught transporting 32 bottles of whiskey amid the COVID-19 lockdown in Telangana. The police registered a case under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act and Excise Act.
Speaking to reporters last week, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao made it clear that wine shops in the state will remain shut until the lockdown is lifted and said that no exceptions will be made.
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PTI inputs