The special investigation team (SIT) arrested a prime suspect of illegal liquor trade in Bihar, Ajay Jha alias Babua Don, from Muzaffarpur on Monday. He was wanted in over a dozen cases lodged under the Excise and Prohibition Act, 2016.
The racket kingpin was nabbed when he was going to meet an acquaintance from his native village Dharmagat Pilkhi in Muzaffarpur district. The latest case against Ajay was lodged with Sakra police station in Muzaffarpur district on July 27 this year following the seizure of 61 cartons of India-made foreign liquor (IMFL) from his hideout.
Ajay, a graduate from Delhi University, purportedly told interrogators that he used to smuggle foreign liquor consignments from Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. One Manish Huda was the mastermind behind the supply of IMFL from Haryana to Bihar after the state was declared dry in April last year.
Ajay, who is his late-40s, said he had hired trucks with specially designed containers to transport foreign liquor from Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. "The trucks crossed borders of the states from remote areas and not from integrated check posts to avoid action," an investigating officer Jitendra Kumar quoted Ajay as saying.
According to Ajay, Maniari toll plaza on National Highway 28 in Muzaffarpur has emerged as the transit point from where the consignments are despatched to other districts of north Bihar. The consignment is uploaded near the toll collection centre by liquor mafia, Ajay revealed to the police.
Manish admitted visiting Haryana after prohibition came into force in Bihar to meet Manish. Another liquor trader, Anil Kale, was operating in Arunchal Pradesh. Sources said Ajay revealed the name of his associate, Pappu Sah, who was allegedly operating in areas falling under the jurisdiction of Mushahari block in Muzaffarpur district.
In September last year, excise officials seized a consignment of 476 cartons of alcohol, which Ajay had stored in the Mohammadpur godown of one Ravindra Jha. Ajay forayed into the liquor trade after his release from jail in April 2016. "As I had spent a lot of money on procuring bail and needed money for survival, I started bootlegging with my relative, Mohit alias Bholu. Mohit had connections with other liquor traders Rajiv Kumar and Rakesh Kumar, who helped me in the business," Ajay told interrogators.
The kingpin has appointed over 20 youths to carry out his business in Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Darbhanga districts. "This is the most lucrative business these days," Ajay told police officers.
According to police records, Ajay has criminal antecedents. He was arrested in 2010 in connection with the murder of a local resident, Virendra Sahni. Sahni was killed following a brawl over a mobile phone in Pilkhi Bazar. In 2013, he had hijacked a truck with a notorious criminal, Dhanna Seth, from NH-28 in Muzaffarpur.
Moreover, his name figures in the loot of a truckload of liquor from Darbhanga in 2013. A case was lodged against him with the Bishunpur police station in Darbhanga district in connection with the incident. He was released on bail in the case after nine months. Again the police arrested him in a vehicle loot case in 2014.
Sources said Ajay has accumulated huge wealth through illicit liquor trade. "The process of confiscating his property will be initiated soon," said Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police Vivek Kumar said.
