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Drunk tax officer from Uttarakhand arrested in dry Bihar
Police said the arrested officer was taken into custody when he was entering Bihar from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh to attend a wedding ceremony.
A deputy commissioner rank officer of Uttarakhand’s commercial taxes department was arrested in a drunken state in dry Bihar late on Friday night.
The arrest took place in Ghutni area of Siwan district. Police also recovered two bottles, including a premium brand Scotch bottle, from his luxury vehicle.
Siwan SP Navin Chandra Jha said the arrested officer identified as Abhay Pandey, currently posted in Roorkee, was taken into custody when he was entering Bihar from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh for attending a wedding ceremony here. Pandey initially tried to hide his identity but revealed it after being arrested.
The SP said police had started routine checking of vehicles at Tendua Mor near Ghutni checkpost on the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border when this particular vehicle was stopped. Two persons sitting inside that were found drunk.
“The officer and the driver were made to undergo breath analyser and blood tests. They tested positive for alcohol. An FIR was lodged at Ghutni police station and they were forwarded to jail on Saturday. Their SUV (Innova Crysta) was seized under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act,” the SP said.
The duo was produced in the special excise court, which remanded them in 14-day judicial custody.
Consumption, transportation, possession and trade in liquor or liquor related goods is punishable by seven to 10 years of jail in Bihar, where 1.53 lakh people have been arrested for flouting prohibition since it came into force in the state in April 2016.
Earlier on July 2, the district police had arrested five persons, including Siwan BJP MLA Vyas Deo Prasad’s son and his four friends, on the charge of liquor possession. They were nabbed at a place near the Uttar Pradesh border under Mairwa police station of Siwan district.
