Ranchi police sealed a garment shop in Upper Bazar, the capital’s wholesale market, after a surprise raid on Sunday afternoon and registered FIRs against the shop owner and six others for violation of the partial lockdown in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

An official of Kotwali police station said that an FIR has been filed under Disaster Management Act, 2005 on the shop owner—Waris Malik and six other employees—for illegally keeping the shop open during the lockdown.

“While the shutter of the shop was down, there were many customers inside it. Customers were let go with a warning but the shop owner and staff were booked for violating the lockdown rules. As per the norms, garment shops are completely shut down till further orders while other operations of other entities that are permitted and considered essentials are allowed to run till 2pm,” said a cop at Kotwali police station, who was part of the raid team.

Ranchi SDO Utkarsh Gupta said, “We received a tip off that a garment shop at Banwari complex located at Shradhanand road was clandestinely functioning despite the lockdown. We first sent a team of few people in civil dress to verify the information after which it was raided.” Gupta added that the health safety week is imposed for public safety in view of covid-19 pandemic and such violations aren’t just against government orders but push many at the risk of infection.

The current phase of lockdown is enforced till 6am of May 13 as part of which medical shops are allowed to run, those selling essential items and restaurants are permitted to keep their shops open till 2pm. However after that, home delivery of items is permitted but dining at eateries is strictly prohibited.

Administration officials said that they are keeping strict vigil across the district round the clock to ensure strict compliance and are taking actions on every tip-off received through different sources. Simultaneously, different teams are also attempting to thwart hoarding, black marketing of medicines and medical devices. On Saturday, a separate team arrested five persons of a medical shop in old HB Road for selling flow meter at exorbitant rates following a complaint by a lady customer.