Another JDU leader from Nalanda has been arrested from Kaimur district allegedly for violating the ban on consumption and sale of alcohol in the state.

Police said Jitendra Chandravanshi, the Rajgir block president of the JDU, and his four associates were arrested from Karmanasa integrated check post on the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh border in Kaimur when he was returning to Nalanda from Varanasi in a sports utility vehicle (SUV) on Wednesday.

The officials of the excise department intercepted Chandravanshi's SUV at the check post and searched the vehicle. The officials were stunned to find seven bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) being transported by the occupants in gross violation of prohibition laws.

In addition, the ruling party leader Chandravanshi and his associates - Mukesh Kumar, Umesh Kumar, Manoj Kumar and Mithilesh Kumar - were found in inebriated condition. The vehicle was seized and the occupants were admitted to a local government hospital for medical tests.

Kaimur excise inspector Ravindra Singh said the medical report confirmed that the accused had consumed alcohol. Chandravanshi admitted he and his supporters had consumed liquor at a wedding ceremony in Varanasi.

"We were returning to Rajgir (Nalanda) from Varanasi when sleuths of the excise department waylaid on National Highway-2 and arrested us on the prohibition charge," Chandravanshi told The Telegraph over phone before being sent to jail.

Kaimur excise superintendent Pradip Kumar said the five accused persons were produced before a local court, which sent them to the Bhabua district jail for 14 days.

This is not an isolated case of violation of prohibition law by the ruling party leader. Harnaut block chief of the JDU, Indrajeet Sen, was arrested in July this year for allegedly stocking 168 liquor bottles in his house.

Sen's arrest snowballed into a controversy and the excise sub-inspector Deepak Kumar, who led the operation at the JDU leader's house, was arrested by the district police on the charge of implicating Sen in a fabricated case. Harnaut happens to be the home block of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The arrest of the excise official for allegedly conniving with political rival of Sen prompted then excise department's principal secretary K.K. Pathak to proceed on a long leave, as he had "defended" the action against the ruling party leader. Pathak was later removed from the post and shifted to the state revenue board.

Sources in the state police headquarters said a former JDU MLA, Lalan Ram, was arrested from Aurangabad in July for violating the law. Another JDU lawmaker Manorama Devi was arrested from Gaya after the seizure of a few bottles of liquor from her house. Both the leaders were suspended from the party.

Cop suspension

Samastipur superintendent of police Nawal Kishore Singh said four police officers posted at Mufassil and Bithan police stations had been put under suspension for their lackadaisical attitude to dispose of the cases related to the new Excise Act.

The SP said the investigation in the cases lodged under the new Excise Act was proceeding at snail's pace despite instruction from the headquarters to complete the investigation at the earliest.

"Department proceedings will also be initiated against the erring cops," he said over the phone on Thursday.