The son of a retired IAS officer was arrested from Patna's Rajeev Nagar police station area on Wednesday night for allegedly thrashing his wife under the influence of alcohol.

Police said Pushparaj Bhashyam, 30, was arrested from his residence after he assaulted his wife Bandana Tannu, 25, and set afire furniture and consumer goods at home.

A traumatized Tannu informed the Rajeev Nagar police and station house officer (SHO) Mritunjay Kumar along with his team rushed to the spot and took Pushparaj into custody. He was sent to the government hospital for a medical test, which confirmed that he was drunk, police sources said.

SHO Kumar said Pushparaj, son of a retired commissioner and brother of a serving additional district magistrate-rank officer, was produced before a local court on Thursday which remanded him to 14-day judicial custody. The accused has been booked under sections 37 (A), 37 (B) and 37(C) of Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act 2016.

"If held guilty, the accused will be awarded life imprisonment," the SHO said.

Pushparaj has been booked for violating provisions of the prohibition law for the second time in the past three months. In December last year, he was arrested after his wife complained to the police that he was creating a nuisance in the house under the influence of alcohol.

Police said Pushparaj attacked his wife as soon as he came out of jail a few days ago. On Wednesday, he returned home drunk, hurled abuses on his homemaker wife and beat her up. Although neighbours saw him beat her up nobody dared stop him because he was very aggressive, said a local resident.

Asked where Pushparaj procured alcohol from, a police officer said the accused frequently visited Koderma in Jharkhand, which of late has become a favourite destination of tipplers across dry Bihar.

"He (Pushparaj) used to bring bottles of Indian made foreign liquor from Jharkhand by train," the police officer said.

At times, Pushparaj also used to buy from local bootleggers who are now on the radar of the police, the officer added.

A close relative said Pushparaj was admitted to a de-addiction centre after the prohibition was clamped on the state in April last year. He, however, escaped from there and never went back.

The former bureaucrat's son used to survive on rent collected from shops in the building premises.