Patna: BJP MLA from Siwan Vyas Deo Prasad's son Vikas Kumar and four of his friends were arrested on Monday early morning on charges of liquor possession.

They were arrested at a place near the Uttar Pradesh border under Mairwa police station, around 170km northwest of the state capital.

Siwan superintendent of police (SP) Naveen Chandra Jha said the arrests were made around 3am and the five persons were travelling in a car coming from the Uttar Pradesh side.

"The police had started a routine checking of vehicles when this particular vehicle carrying five persons was stopped. Two persons among them were found drunk. Two bottles of IMFL (India made foreign liquor) were found from the automobile," SP Jha said.

The five were made to undergo medical tests, and two of them tested positive for alcohol. No alcohol was found in the blood sample of Vikas. An FIR was lodged at Mairwa police station and all five were forwarded to jail.

Jha said Vikas tried to hide his identity at first but revealed it after being arrested.

Mairwa station house officer (SHO) Sanjeev Kumar Singh said: "As per the information provided by the arrested people, they were returning after attending a marriage ceremony in Lucknow. Apart from Vikas, the other arrested persons have been identified as Baliram Ram, Sanjeev Jaiswal, Sonu Singh and Ravi Prakash."

When contacted, Siwan MLA Vyas Deo said that the driver of the vehicle had kept two bottles that his son did not know about.

"My son was not drunk. No alcohol has been found in the medical tests conducted on him. He was simply returning from a marriage ceremony," the MLA added.

Vikas is the youngest of Vyas's six sons and is into the printing and stationery business. In April this year, Gaya BJP MP Hari Manjhi's son Rahul Kumar of was arrested on the charge of consuming liquor. In October 2016, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's grandson was arrested for possessing liquor. Both are out on bail.

Consumption, transportation, possession and trade in liquor or liquor-related goods is punishable by seven to 10 years of jail in Bihar, where 1.41 lakh people have been arrested for flouting prohibition since it was clamped on the state in April 2016.