Police on Tuesday launched a special drive against sale of illicit liquor in the state capital during Durga Puja and other festivals in October.
On the first day of the drive, 14 persons, including five dealers, were arrested and over 700 pouches of illicit liquor seized from the areas falling under the jurisdiction of Kotwali, Alamganj, Agamkuan, Bahadurpur and Airport police stations.
Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj said: “Acting on intelligence inputs, a special team has been formed to raid unauthorised outlets selling illicit liquor.”
Elaborating the seizure, the SSP said 10 pouches each were seized from the areas falling under Kotwali and Agamkuan police stations, 327 pouches from Bahadurpur and 94 pouches from the Airport police stations respectively. Other localities considered to be prone to unauthorised sale of liquor were also under the surveillance of the special police team, he added. Those would be raided soon. The list of unauthorised liquor outlets has been given to the special team. The SSP’s office had earlier received numerous complaints about unauthorised sale of liquor from residents, the officer said.
The SSP said all station house officers have been asked to raid localities falling under their jurisdiction to check the sale of illicit liquor. “Stern action would be initiated against those officers found to be lax,” warned Manu.
He said the drive would continue during the festivities. In January last year, eight persons had died after consuming spurious liquor in Mehandiganj and Khajekalan localities of Patna City sub-division. “The drive has been launched to avert any hooch tragedy in the festive season,” the SSP added.
Loot at gunpoint
Three armed criminals snatched Rs 9 lakh and a few bank drafts from an accountant near Ranipur Paijawa village under the jurisdiction of Bypass police station in Patna rural on Tuesday.
Around 12.30pm, Jagdish Prasad, an accountant with a Karmalichak-based automobile agency, was on his way to the Judges’ Court branch of State Bank of India by car to deposit the amount and bank drafts. Police said three bike-borne youths overtook the car and snatched the bag containing the amount and the drafts from Jagdish at gunpoint. They also assaulted the car driver, Ajeet, when he tried to drive away.
Jagdish told the police that he could not identify the masked robbers.
On being alerted, a police team led by city superintendent of police (SP) Manavjeet Singh Dhillon rushed to the spot and inquired about the incident. “Both the driver and the accountant have been detained for interrogation,” he added.
SP Dhillon said raids have been launched to arrest the robbers, who sped away towards Fatuha after committing the crime.
