In a crackdown on illicit liquor operations, Bihar police on Saturday raided the diara (riverine) areas of Patna and Hajipur and destroyed several drums of country-made liquor. In similar raids across the State, thousands of litres of seized illegal liquor were destroyed in presence of District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police following court orders.
At a meeting of senior police officials of the Tirhut zone in north Bihar on Saturday as many as 52 policemen were identified as “aiding and abetting” the sale of illegal liquor in their areas. The superintendents of police of all 10 districts of the zone — Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, West Champaran, Bagaha, Sitamarhi, Vaishali, Sheohar, Saran, Siwan and Gopalgunj — were present in the meeting.
“We’ve identified 244 persons active in liquor trade in north Bihar… as many as 52 police officials too have been found abetting the illegal business…the names of these erring police officials have been sent to the police headquarters for departmental proceedings,” Sunil Kumar, Inspector-General of Tirhut zone told journalists in Muzaffarpur.
Mr Kumar also said the property of people involved in the illegal trade and vehicles used in illegal liquor transportation too would be confiscated and impounded.
Data on seizures
In a new directive from the State Police, all officers-in-charge of police stations will have to record every detail of seized illegal liquor like size of the bottle, quantity and brand and share the data with the Superintendents of Police of their respective districts, who in turn are required to inform the police headquarters.
Further, the seized liquor at the police stations should be destroyed in 15 to 30 days of seizure, the directive said.
The SPs and other officials have been asked to complete investigations in record time in cases in which huge consignments were seized and take stern against the those involved.
The action follows Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s recent meeting with senior police officials on the illegal trade in the State and reports of rats at police stations destroying bottles of seized liquor apparently having chewed through the stoppers. Mr Kumar asked police officials to crackdown on all those found involved in the illegal trade while attaching their property and impounding vehicles used in transportation.
Following the imposition of prohibition in Bihar in April 2016, the police have seized over five lakh litres of smuggled liquor which are kept in police stations. As a result almost all police stations face a space crunch with some renting premises for use as godowns. More than 40,000 people have been arrested under prohibition laws in the last one year.
Following random breathalyser tests, three drunken police officials were caught last week and sent to jail.
