In dry state Bihar, 7 found drinking alcohol in custody of excise dept

Sale and consumption of alcohol was completely banned in the state by the Nitish Kumar government in April, 2016, in keeping with a promise made to the women of Bihar by the chief minister ahead of the assembly polls held the previous year.

Seven people, including two constables, were arrested for having a liquor party in the custody of the Excise Department in Patna's Paliganj, police said on Thursday. Five persons were arrested by the Excise Department on Tuesday afternoon and kept in custody at the excise police station in Paliganj, reported ANI. On the same night, they were provided with liquor inside the jail premises and they started a party.

Patna: Seven people were found drinking alcohol in custody of excise department.

Police went to verify the information about the liquor party and found them drinking alcohol, Paliganj sub-divisional police officer said, adding that the probe is underway to find how the prisoners got alcohol.

“We received info about it. We went to verify it and found them drinking alcohol. All are prisoners. How they got alcohol and other things are part of the probe,” ANI quoted SDPO Paliganj as saying.

The sale and consumption of alcohol was completely banned in the state by the Nitish Kumar government in April, 2016, in keeping with a promise made to the women of Bihar by the chief minister ahead of the assembly polls held the previous year.

Patna high court recently observed that the lives of the people of Bihar have come under risk because of the state government's failure to effectively implement its much-touted prohibition law. The single judge bench of Justice Purnendu Singh was hearing the bail petition of Niraj Singh, a resident of Muzaffarpur district who has been in jail in a prohibition-related case since November last year.

(With ANI inputs)