Hyderabad: A 20-year-old was caught during a drunk and drive check. The breath analyser showed blood alcohol content (BAC) of 43, which was 11 points more than permissible limit. He claimed that he was a teetotaller. Further, when he was tested in Osmania General Hospital, the police found that he was not under the influence of alcohol.
However, Sultan Bazaar inspector confirmed that it was not a blood test report but just a prescription from a doctor.
Syed Zaheeruddin Quadri said, “While I was travelling in an Innova car, the traffic police stopped me as they were conducting drink-and-drive checks.”
Quadri claimed that just before he was stopped he had a juice near Mayur pan shop. When the traffic police tested him with breath analyser, it showed 43 points.
“I told them that I don’t drink. However, they didn’t believe me and booked a case. Immediately, I went to Osmania General Hospital and got a blood test done. The report came at around 1am and it clearly stated that the person was not in an inebriated condition,” he said.
Based on the report Quadri registered a complaint against the traffic police.
However P. Shiva Shankar Rao, inspector of Sultan Bazaar said, “We received the complaint from Quadri and are investigating”. When asked about the blood test report he said that it was not a blood test report but a routine prescribed test by the concerned doctor from Osmania General Hospital stating that he was not under the influence of alcohol, Mr Rao said.
As per schedule, traffic police conducted drunk and drive checks from 8pm to 11pm on Saturday night.
G. Shankar Raju, traffic inspector, Sultan Bazaar said, “We followed standard operating procedure during the checks through breath analyser test. Meanwhile, when we checked Quadri we noticed that his BAC was 43 but he insisted on checking once more. As per our procedure, we have to check only once, so since he was in an inebriated condition we registered a case. He had to follow the rules and attend the counselling session.”
When asked about any fault in the breath analyser machine the inspector said that “the breath analyser is a reliable device and it will only reach us after through testing process. We can’t say it was imperfect,” he said.
