These bars were operating flouting all Abkari norms, official sources said. Their licenses had expired and some bars were transferred to a new location which is against the Abkari rules in force.

The transfer of bars to a new location had created a stir both in the Kerala Assembly and outside with the opposition raising corruption charges against two ministers in the Nayanar cabinet. Bars functioning in the urban areas can shift the bars to a new place within the urban limit while those functioning in the rural areas can shift to a new location within the taluk limit but not outside. But many bar owners including fisheries minister's son-in-law had shifted their bars outsidethe permissible limits to and from the urban and rural areas.