A record Rs 197 crore worth of liquor was sold in Karnataka on the second day of shops reopening in all areas except Covid-hit containment zones after the extended lockdown norms were relaxed, an official said on Tuesday.

"The shops across the state sold 36.37 lakh litres of Indian Made Liquor (IML) valued at Rs 182 crore and 7.02 lakh litres of beer valued at Rs 15 crore, which together amounts to Rs 197 crore," a state excise official said in a statement here.

On the first day of reopening the shops on Monday, 8.5 lakh litres of IML and 3.9 lakh litres of beer with a combined value of Rs 45 crore was sold after 40 days of lockdown.

As per the revised guidelines, liquor shops are allowed to do business from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily till May 17 when the extended lockdown ends.

In a related development, the Excise Department booked a case against a wine shop owner in the state capital for allegedly selling more liquor than permitted under the law to a buyer on Monday, an official said on Tuesday.

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"We have booked a case against licensed shop owner S. Venkatesh for reportedly selling Indian made liquor (IML) and beer to a buyer more than he is permitted under the Karnataka Excise Act section 36," Bengaluru South Excise Deputy Commissioner J. Giri told IANS.

The alleged sale came to light when the unidentified customer post in the social media went viral flaunting a receipt showing details of liquor he bought worth Rs 52,841 from Vanilla Spirit Zone on Monday afternoon.

"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 said.

Venkatesh, however, told Giri 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.

Giri said that they were investigating the matter.

First Published:May 6, 2020 7:27 AM IST