GURUGRAM: The excise department said on Monday it had formed teams to keep a watch on whether bars were serving liquor to people below 25, following an enquiry from the police commissioner in the investigation into the rape of an 18-year-old student last week.A 45-year-old businessman who lives in the Belaire and is the father of the student’s best friend was arrested on Friday after the student and the businessman’s daughter went to the police station and filed a complaint against him.The student had said in her complaint her friend’s father had taken them out for dinner to Cyber Hub, ordered hard drinks and made them drink it, alleging it was a pre-planned sexual assault. This happened on the night of July 5. The three returned to the businessman’s flat around 1am and the two girls retired to the businessman’s daughter’s room (it was on her invitation that the student was there, the two are childhood friends and the former had come home from Canada on June 27). Between 4 and 5am, he allegedly woke the student up, dragged her to his room and raped her.While the businessman was booked under sections 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 328 (causing hurt) of the IPC, police commissioner K K Rao wrote to the excise department, asking it to probe if the suspect had ordered drinks for the two women in the pub and had served them himself.According to excise rules, a person below 25 cannot be served liquor at a pub or bar. “The investigation team will find out who had ordered the drinks, whether the accused had ordered the drinks for himself only and later served it to the women or he had directly ordered drinks for all three of them,” said Rao. He said the excise department should also take strict action against the pob if it found any violation.“Teams have been formed to check underage drinking at city outlets. If anyone is found violating norms and serving liquor to underage persons, strict action will be taken and even a licence can be cancelled,” said HC Dahiya, deputy excise and taxation commissioner, Gurugram (west).Asked about the status of the investigation, women’s police station SHO Poonam Hooda said, police were in the process of recording statements.

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