Hyderabad: Weeks after a raid at a Hyderabad cafe, Ariko, where excise officials claimed to have found alcohol infused ice cream, the owner Sarath has alleged foul play in framing the cafe.
The cafe was raided on September 6 by the excise department, and was accused of selling whiskey infused gelato ice cream to kids, with the officials found alcohol bottles and seized 11.5 kg of ice cream from the cafe.
The Hyderabad cafe’s owner, Sarath Chandra Reddy, took to social media platform Instagram to make their stance clear while accusing the excise department officials of framing and manipulating the chef, and demanding a bribe to drop the alleged false case against them.
Ariko Cafe, in their post stated that they received a customer request, through which the cafe’s chef was being coerced into preparing alcohol infused gelato on special demand of an unknown persistent customer, following which the raid took place.
In the social media post, the Hyderabad cafe claimed that the excise department officials did not get any real evidence of alcohol infused ice cream at the cafe’s kitchen. They accused the officials of keeping empty alcohol bottles used by the cafe’s watchman and olive oil bottles, as evidence in the case.
The cafe’s founder, Sarath stated that the raid was more of a “well planned trap, than a legitimate investigation.” He claims the incident was based on manipulated information and baseless claims, and when the cafe management refused to play along with the excise department, they falsely escalated the case further by falsely involving children into the story.
He dismissed the narrative of the officials and deplored how mainstream media jumped on the issue into sensationalising while not doing any due diligence into the matter.
He also demanded a free and fair investigation into the case and also welcomed the media and public of Hyderabad to look into the counter posed by the cafe, against the excise department officials.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Parameswaran Valeri | 
