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Two days after hooch deaths, 660 cartons of liquor seized in dry Bihar’s Vaishali district; 4 held
The seizure of alcohol comes close on heels of death of three persons after allegedly consuming spurious liquor in Vaishali district on Wednesday night.
Two days after three persons died in a suspected hooch tragedy in Vaishali, the district police on Friday seized 660 cartons of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) and arrested four people for illegal transportation of alcohol in Bihar where the state government has implemented total prohibition since April last year.
Superintendent of police (SP) Rakesh Kumar said the value of the liquor seized from two trucks at district headquarters Hajipur, 22 km north of Patna, was Rs 70 lakh.
The SP said a police team intercepted a truck on the new Hajipur-Sonpur bridge and recovered 540 cartons of IMFL. The team, led by Hajipur town police station SHO Sunil Kumar, also arrested four people, including the driver, he added.
“The town police intercepted another truck at Minapur village and recovered 120 cartons of. The driver and the cleaner, however, managed to escape,” Rakesh Kumar said.
The SP said the trucks had registration numbers of Rajasthan and Haryana.
The arrested persons had been identified as Ranvir Kumar, Ganjendra Singh (both from Bharatpur in Rajasthan), Binod Yadav (Jaunpur in UP) and Amarnath Mahto (Chapra in Bihar).
On Wednesday, three people had died after allegedly consuming spurious liquor at Basauli village under Baradi Sahai police station of Vaishali district.
Consuming, keeping or dealing in liquor is an offence under the state’s new excise prohibition law, which provides for imprisonment up to 10 years.
