After being arrested for flouting COVID-19 norms at the Dragonfly pub in Mumbai, cricketer Suresh Raina on Tuesday expressed regret for the incident, explaining that he was not aware of the local protocol.
As per a statement from the cricketer's management team, Raina, who retired from international cricket in August this year, was in Mumbai for a shoot which went on till late at night after which he was invited for dinner prior to his flight back to Delhi.
"He was not aware of the local timings and protocols. Once it was pointed out, he immediately complied with the procedures laid out by the authorities and regrets the unfortunate and unintentional incident," the statement said.
It further added, "He always holds rules and laws laid down by governing bodies with the highest regard and will continue to do so in the future as well."
Raina was among 34 people who were arrested in the late-night raid, along with singer Guru Randhawa and Sussanne Khan, interior designer, and ex-wife of actor Hritik Roshan.
As per Vishwas Nagre Patil, JCP of Law and Order of the Mumbai Police, the raid was conducted at 3 am at a club in Andheri. Nineteen of the arrested persons were from Delhi and Punjab.
They were booked under Section 188, 269, 34 of the IPC and provisions of the National Disaster Management Act for keeping the establishment open beyond permissible time limits and not following COVID norms. The arrested persons were released on bail soon after.
In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants and other establishments were not permitted to stay open beyond 11 pm.
As per the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are currently 60,593 active cases in Maharashtra. As many as 17,89,958 infected patients have recovered so far, while the death toll stands at 48,801.
( With inputs from ANI )
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