Ongole: 'Drunkard rats' empty 78 bottles of alcohol

Ongole: The hungry rats which once ate tonnes of iron in those good old days, have now become naughty and alcoholic by the time they reincarnated in Addanki of Prakasam district.

Taking advantage of the lockdown and closure of alcohol sale, the rats raided a wine shop and consumed as much as they can, and left the supervisor and other staff in misery.

According to the Addanki Prohibition and Excise CI B Srinivasulu, they received instructions from the Deputy Commissioner to cross-check the stock in the 30 shops in their jurisdiction. He said that they conducted checks at the shops along with the Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Limited (APSBCL) supervisor and AP Online staff and observed discrepancies in 13 shops.

He said that at one shop run by the APSBCL, there was a difference of 78 bottles of whiskey and the supervisor claimed that rats were the reason for the disappearance of the alcohol.

The CI said that the supervisor of the shop failed to secure the stock with proper arrangements and inform the officials immediately that he observed the difference. He said that they made him pay the bill for the 78 bottles of whiskey, that the rats partied on, from his own pocket, and advised him to keep the stock in a safe place.

The APSBCL Ongole depot manager G Gopi Naidu said that the bottles were made of plastic and the shop staff didn't complain about the loss due to rats in time. He said that as the mistake was on the shop staff side, they made them pay the bill for the bottles immediately after observing the difference.