7 gram panchayat heads among 19 arrested over a liquor party in Bihar

All accused excluding the house owner were found positive for alcohol consumption, following which, they were booked under the Excise Act.

Eighteen persons including seven-gram Panchayat heads were arrested on Sunday night in Bihar’s Rohtas district while they were consuming liquor, defying the prohibition law in the state. Police arrested another person for hosting the liquor party thrown by a candidate eyeing a legislative council seat.

Bihar Police said the liquor party was thrown possibly by a candidate who is eyeing to contest legislative council election from local bodies quota . (ANI Photo/Representative use)

Four mukhyas, husbands of two women mukhiyas and a primary agricultural credit society chairman were among the 18 persons present in the liquor party, held at a house adjacent to the Panchayat Sarkar Bhawan, a local government office at Darigaon village in Rohtas. The nineteenth person to be arrested was the house owner, who allowed such a gathering which broke multiple rules including the prohibition on sale, purchase and consumption of liquor.

Based on a tip off received by superintendent of police Ashish Bharti, a police team under sub divisional police officer Arvind Pratap Singh and Darigaon station house officer (SHO) Dharmendra Kumar raided the house in the night and arrested the accused red handed while recovering 125 litres of liquor, two licensed pistols and ammunition from their possession.

The arrested persons were identified as Darigaon mukhya Raju Paswan, Alampur mukhya Vijay Paswan, Nauhatta mukhiya Munna Singh, Ugahani mukhya Rajbansh Paswan, Rampur mukhiyapati (mukhiya’s husband) Dharmendra Singh, Hata mukhiyapati Paras Paswan and Sadokhar PACS chairman Krishna Singh apart from 12 persons involved in panchayat level politics. House owner Ravindra Singh was also arrested, SP Ashish Bharti said.

All arrested persons excluding the house owner were found positive for alcohol consumption, following which, a case under Excise Act was registered and a deeper investigation into the party began.

“The liquor party was thrown possibly by a candidate who is eyeing to contest legislative council election from local bodies quota,” a police officer, preferring not to be named, said. All the arrested persons will be produced before the court and sent to jail on Monday, police said.

Panchayat representatives, especially its head mukhiya, are considered key to enforcing prohibition in Bihar. However, they have often been found involved in violation of the rule, putting question marks on the enforcement mechanism, an officer said.