Bar refutes charges of serving minor girls

Hyderabad: Amid outrage against the bar which allegedly flouted rules and served liquor to underaged students, leading to an accident, which killed a person, the bar management on Thursday released a footage of the staff examining the ID cards of students before serving them as per norms.

Speaking at a press meet, Buchhi Reddy, the owner of the Up Roof Top Bar and Restaurant said, “We have verified the Aadhaar cards of all four girls and their two male friends, who showed it on their mobile phones. They might have shown fabricated identity proofs; we don’t have any mechanism to verify the credentials of the identity proofs.”

He claimed that they did not flout the rules formulated by the State government. “The bar was opened in February last. Since then, we never ever allowed any underage person enter the bar. The CCTV evidence is there, the authorities can check,” Buchhi Reddy said, adding that the authorities had seized the bar for no fault of them. He requested to revoke the orders.

If the government is particular about not selling liquor to underage group, they should allow us to biometrically verify their Aadhaar details, said Charan, an associate of the bar owner.

Only two of the four girls consumed liquor on the fateful day, said one of the bar staff, on being enquired. “We don’t know the names of the girls who consumed alcohol. I remember the bill was about Rs 6,000,” he said.

On Sunday night, a woman driver, who was allegedly drunk, ran over a cobbler sleeping on the footpath near DAE gate at Kushaiguda, while they were returning from Up Roof Top bar and restaurant. During the investigation, the police have found that the girls were second-year engineering students, with an age of less than 21 years. As per the State government rules, serving liquor to people below 21 years is prohibited.