Chennai, Oct 21 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Police forced a garment shop owner to shut down his shop after a huge crowd thronged it on its opening day at Tiruchy. The reason for the heavy crowd and commotion was the announcement made by the shop owner that he would provide T-Shirts for 50 paise as part of the inaugural promotion scheme.

When the shop opened on Thursday there was a huge crowd at Manapparai in Tiruchy as the owner, Hakeem Mohammed had advertised the offer with posters about the same being seen across Manapparai. The local WhatsApp groups were also flooded with the offer.

A huge crowd led to commotion on Thursday morning as the offer was from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. People paid 50 paise at the counter and climbed the first floor to claim the T-Shirt. However after the crowd created roadblock, the police intervened and forced the owner to shut the shop and allowed to open only after 1 p.m. and without the offer.

Hakeem Mohammed told media persons that he had stocked more than 1,000 cotton T-Shirts to be given away for 50 paise each but only 100 were sold off due to the commotion and police intervention.

He said that even after the shop was reopened after 1 p.m. several people came to the shop with 50 paise coin but have to be sent back as the offer period had ended.