Hyderabad, Oct. 23 -- The voluntary retirement of senior IAS officer Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi on Wednesday, October 22, with nearly a decade of service remaining, has sparked rumours that the action was prompted due to a tiff with state excise minister Jupally Krishna Rao, over liquor bottle hologram tenders.

The excise minister, on the same day as the government approved Rizvi's retirement, lodged a complaint with the chief secretary to the state government, K Rama Krishna Rao, accusing Rizvi of deliberately stalling the tender process for the holograms. He demanded that action be taken against the IAS officer for misconduct and reject his VRS.

In the letter, the minister alleged Rizvi has been stalling the tender process since 2019, due...