Telangana liquor shop owners protest ‘forced’ cash seizures, many shut shops

Hyderabad: In the run-up to the Telangana Assembly elections 2023, police officials have set up check posts near the liquor shops in Hyderabad, which the owners claim are causing inconvenience.

The Special Operation Team (SOT) of the Telangana police department has started conducting checks just 10 meters from the wine shops and has been seizing 'unaccounted' cash. With 2,400 wine shops in the state, major areas that are under police radar are Kamareddy, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Hyderabad and Warangal.

“After closing our shops, we take the cash home to deposit in the bank the next morning. After the election code, the SOT set up check posts 10 meters away from our wine shop. Despite showing bills, they are seizing our cash and filing cases,” said Mastan Babu Yadav, a wine shop owner at Malkapur. He said that at least 10 to 12 shops in the Choutkur area in the Sangareddy district closed business due to police activity.

“Without depositing cash in the banks, we cannot buy stock. On Sunday, they seized Rs 70,000 from me. This is affecting our business. So, we have decided to close business,” he added.

A large number of wine shops were shut on October 16 with the owners protesting forced seizures by the SOT.

Speaking to NewsMeter, liquor association president, D Venkateswara Rao said that the situation in Telangana is worse. Cash more than Rs 50,000 cannot be taken in the vehicles. “With the liquor shops doing business of approximately Rs 2 lakhs per day, the owner can’t keep the cash in the shop and has to deposit it in the bank the next day. However, we are being stopped by the police who are not believing the legitimacy of the cash even when proper documents are shown. This has become the situation every day.”

The wine shop owners are finding it difficult to convince the IT and police departments and demand guidelines to be issued which can safeguard their interests.

Giri Goud, another wine shop owner at Motkur, said the SOT seized Rs 1.74 lakhs on Monday night from him. “We have bills but they are not listening to us. The police are targeting us. We have decided to close the wine shops after clearing the present stock,” said Giri. “They should only check the areas where they believe unlawful activities are happening. But the SOT are targeting us,” said Giri.

Data on seizures

So far, the Telangana police have seized crores of rupees to enforce the election code and ensure free and fair polls. The total cash seized from October 9 to 16 was Rs 58,96,98,917 crores.

These numbers are staggeringly high, especially when one considers the cash seizures across the state in a day, between October 15 and 16, amounted to Rs 7,29,72,290 crores!

As per the reports, between October 9 and 16, the total value of seizures was Rs 1,09,11,15,917. Between October 15 and 16, Rs 25,82,49,191 worth of seizures were made by the police.

Between October 9 to 16, the total liquor seized was valued at Rs 6,64,81,307 (44,093 litres, 1,280 kg black jaggery and 530 kg alum). Between October 15 and 16, the value of the seizures was worth Rs 77,00,729 (6,974 litres, 625 kg Jaggary and 4 kg alum)

Drugs/Narcotics seizures

As per the records, the seizures of drugs/narcotics on October 15 and 16 were valued at Rs 29,51,135 (110 kg Ganja and 0.3 litres weed oil)

Between October 9-16, 1,133 kg of Ganja and 0.3 litres of weed oil with a total worth of Rs 2,97,61,595 was seized.

When it comes to seizures of precious metal, between October 9 to 16, 64.2 kg of gold, 400 kg of silver, and diamonds of 42.203 carats were seized, which were valued at Rs 33,62,56,096.

Similarly, 43,700 kg of rice, 627 sarees and other clothes worth Rs 6,89,18,002 were seized. The seizures include items/freebies such as laptops, vehicles, and cookers.