Director-general of police P.K. Thakur has ordered a probe into a Bihar Military Police (BMP) constable's allegation of being framed by the Rohtas district police in a false prohibition-violation case.

Pappu Singh alias Sipahiji, 36, a resident of Himmatpur village in Bhojpur district, was arrested from Dalmianagar in Rohtas district on April 16 this year on charges of bootlegging. The members of the raiding team led by sub-inspector Prakash Lal claimed in the FIR that Pappu, posted at the BMP headquarters in Patna, was carrying 20 pouches of country liquor made in Jharkhand.

The police also arrested Pappu's elder brother Jitendra Kumar Singh and four others, who had gone to the Sasaram civil court seeking bail for him, and sent them to jail on similar charges of violating the prohibition law.

"One of the four arrested persons Ram Lakhan Singh, a resident of Gopibigha village in Rohtas district, had submitted his affidavit in the court pleading before it as bailer of Pappu a couple of hours before being arrested," Pappu said in a petition submitted to director-general of police (DGP) Thakur.

The DGP has forwarded Pappu's petition to inspector-general (IG), Patna zone, N.H. Khan asking him to probe the allegations. Khan's office received the DGP's directive two weeks ago, , police sources said.

Pappu claims he was arrested when he had gone to meet the Dehri Town police station house officer (SHO) Birendra Yadav who had called him to the sub-divisional headquarters town in Rohtas, around 165km west of Patna. SHO Yadav wanted to "discuss" the matter of Pappu's brother's goods carrier vehicles which stone quarrying mafia used to hire to smuggle stone chips from Gopibigha, the hub of illegal mining, according to the BMP constable.

Pappu, who got bail on May 15, claimed to The Telegraph that stone mafia kingpins "have close relations with the police officials of Rohtas district who cooperate in the illegal trade".

An SHO gets anything between Rs. 45,000 and Rs 50,000 per vehicle monthly from the stone mafia, insiders revealed, and at least 50 vehicles are engaged in the smuggling.

Pappu also disclosed names of some top police officers who he claimed patronise the mafia.

Rohtas superintendent of police M.S. Dhillon quizzed Pappu for several hours before he was sent to jail on April 16, said sources in the state police headquarters. Departmental proceedings were initiated against Pappu on May 23 on the recommendation of the Rohtas SP.

Pappu, in his petition sent to the zonal IG Khan on May 20 this year, has requested details of his mobile phone be scrutinised.

"The call detail record from April 15 to 16 will unravel the truth," Pappu said, adding that he had never been punished during his over one-and-half-decades of service.

The BMP constable also claimed the Rohtas policemen withdrew money from his bank account when he was in police custody.

"They took my ATM card and mobile phone but didn't show them in the seizure list submitted to the court," Pappu alleged.

Pappu's is not an isolated case. Several complaints have emerged of policemen falsely implicating innocent people in cases lodged after prohibition came into force in April last year in Bihar.

Over 46,000 people have been arrested in the state for allegedly violating prohibition in the past one year.