Hyderabad: Acting on a complaint of food poisoning registered against a plush restaurant in Inorbit Mall, a team of veterinary and medical officers from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) conducted a raid on the eatery in the evening hours of Tuesday. The restaurant, Village the Soul of India, was found to have an unsanitary kitchen, and illegal meat was found being used in the food. A fine of Rs15,500 was imposed on the management.

The restaurant, which serves both vegetarian and non vegetarian food, has been set up to resemble a village. A customer who dined there on Saturday found the food to have a foul smell and a peculiar taste, and he registered a complaint against the restaurant on the GHMC app. The GHMC team then decided to conduct a surprise inspection of the restaurant.

Dr Abdul Wakil, the Assi-stant Veterinary Director of the GHMC, said, “They had a cold storage which was not maintaining the required cooling temperature, so the meat may not have been sanitary. The restaurant procured meat from Mumbai.”

The GHMC Medical Officer slapped a fine on the restaurant for not segregating its waste into wet and dry bins. It was found that semicooked food, which had been prepared on the previous day, was being stored. The eatery was also fined for not procuring and displaying a valid trade licence, as is mandatory.

A case was filed against them for the use of illegal meat.

The restaurant management maintains that the raid was, in fact, a routine check and that the quality of food served had never been compromised. “We have a high demand at times, so we have to get meat from other places. The other fines were merely added as part of the routine check,” said a senior member of the staff.