Six escape from excise lock-up after being held for selling liquor in dry Bihar
Six people arrested on charges of selling liquor escape from lock-up of excise department, breaking open iron grill of a window, after cops doze off under influence of liquor.
Six persons, arrested on charges of selling liquor in dry Bihar, escaped from the lock-up of the excise department after cops standing guard reportedly turned tipsy, at Motihari in East Champaran district on Wednesday.
The six youth, arrested along the Indo-Nepal border on Tuesday, used their combined force to break the iron grill of a window on the first floor of the excise department detention room, and then climb down a pipe, while six jawans of special auxiliary police (SAP) slept under the influence of liquor.
Sources said the six jawans consumed among them 2-4 of the 15-odd 500 ml Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) bottles recovered from the youth. Realising that the cops had dozed off, the youth took advantage of darkness and made good their escape in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The youth were under detention of the excise department before being produced in the court .
Motihari excise superintendent Keshav Prasad said, “We do not have an exact count on the number of IMFL bottles recovered from the youth.”
He further said, “It was sheer negligence on the part of the SAP jawans and we will take action against them. I have informed the district magistrate about it.”
The excise department has lodged a police complaint with the town police station (PS).
Town PS inspector Anand Kumar said, “We are conducting raids to apprehend the youth.”
Six people — Prahlad Mahto, Hemlal Mahto, Mukesh Patel, Amlesh Mian, Md Haroon and Saddam Hussain — were arrested from three different locations along the Indo-Nepal border in Sugauli, Raxaul and Ghorasahan areas of the district on charges of selling liquor.
East Champaran superintendent of police Upendra Prasad Sharma said, “We will try to arrest the absconders as soon as possible.”
Bihar was declared a dry state on April 5, 2016. According to provisions of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016, one can be hanged or jailed from 10 years to life, besides cash penalty of Rs 10,000 for selling liquor.