A 16-year-old boy from Madhubani finished writing the last paper of his Class XI half-yearly examination on Friday, loaded 600 bottles of Nepal-made liquor in a luxury car within the next couple of hours before scooting off to neighbouring Darbhanga district.
The teenager was supposed to deliver the consignment to a woman at Laheriasarai. But destiny had something different in store for him. He was caught during a vehicle-checking drive undertaken by the University police, who seized the consignment and the car.
The Class XI student (whose identity The Telegraph is withholding since he is a minor) and his associate, also a minor, were later produced before a juvenile court, which sent them to a remand home. The teenager had turned a bootlegger and taken to high risk to make a fast buck - Rs 5,000 - to meet his monthly expenses.
He revealed that he had decided to join the lucrative business as there were less chances of getting caught by the police. 'Usually the police don't search students when they are in uniform. Even minors are spared by the cops,' the boy disclosed.
Darbhanga additional superintendent of police (ASP) Dilnawaz Ahmad said on Saturday that a student of the local polytechnic college, Raja Kumar Sah, was also arrested while transporting Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) on a motorbike. Sah, a first semester student, told the police that they were working for a jailed liquor trader, Anil Jha.
ASP Ahmad said Anil Jha was operating from behind bars. He was arrested a few months ago for supplying liquor to alcoholics in Madhubani district. 'As he is lodged in prison, he hired minors to carry out the lucrative business,' the ASP told The Telegraph over phone from Darbhanga. The police later nabbed two others and seized 15 cartons of IMFL. Another police team was sent to Muzaffarpur's Saraiya and Bochahan blocks from where four bootleggers were arrested and 10 cartons of IMFL were recovered.
One Nawal Rai, a resident of Saraiya, had especially designed a room in his house to store liquor. The raiding team found 75 cartons of liquor stocked there. A police officer said: 'The stock was meant for Dussehra and the student-turned-bootleggers availed of the opportunity to fulfil the high demand during the festive season. The students were promised something between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 per trip.'
Police sources said the arrested Class XI student, a resident of Basopatti in Madhubani district, told interrogators that he had planned to undertake more trips to earn quick money in his spare time after his examination. Apart from meeting his daily expenses, the boy had decided to extend some financial support to the family, a police officer quoted the alleged bootlegger as saying.
The Darbhanga ASP admitted that hardly a day passed without seizure of liquor from the district. He said that incarcerated dons have hired minors as carriers to run the business from inside the jail. 'The liquor mafia alter their modus operandi from time to time to avoid detection and police action,' he added.
Earlier, Bhagalpur police had discovered a septic tank used by house owner Gama Choudhary to store bottles of liquor at Paasitola village under the jurisdiction of Ishachak police station. The raiding team had detected 1,100 litres of liquor stored in it.
