BHUBANESWAR: The Commissionerate Police on Sunday arrested five persons of two bars on charges of violating COVID safety protocol and keeping BMC squad locked for 30 minutes in an elevator during a raid on Saturday night.
ACP of Zone-VI Prakash Chandra Pal said the arrests were made on the basis of a complaint lodged by the civic body at Chandrasekarpur police station. A case has been registered in this regard.
The BMC has also sealed the bars BBI and OOPRE for an indefinite period. The BMC enforcement team led by Zonal Deputy Commissioner (South East) Anshuman Rath conducted raids in different bars over violation of night curfew protocol.
"We were surprised to see that these bars and restaurants were not only keeping their premises open beyond the stipulated time of 10 pm, but also serving food and liquor till late night," Rath said.
The employees of the bars discontinued power supply to the lift when the enforcement team was inside it. As a result, the team was stuck in the lift for over 30 minutes. Later, other BMC officials and police reached the spot and rescued the trapped officials, he added.