India: Police find more than 150 litres of ‘Holi special’ liquor hidden inside a pond in Bihar

More than 150 litres of liquor was found hidden inside a pond in the Indian state of Biharon Friday (March 3), said the local police, as per news agency ANI. According to the Bihar police, at least 17 cartons of liquor marked “Holi special” were found hidden in the state’s Vaishali district.

“Further action will be taken by registering an FIR in the matter,” said Suresh Prasad Chowdhary, the police station in charge, Vaishali. The liquor was brought from Haryana for Holi celebrations in the state, said local police sources. Meanwhile, the officer in charge also spoke about how the liquor mafia has become active in the Vaishali district ahead of Holi and adopting various tactics to hoodwink the police.

“But the team of excise department has been successful in recovering liquor worth lakhs of rupees hidden in a fish pond,” he added. The operation was conducted after the excise department team received a tip-off that a large quantity of foreign liquor has been hidden underwater in a pond located in Harpur village of the Mahua police station area.

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The liquor was supposed to be consumed during the festival of Holi in the next week in the state of Bihar where it is banned since 2016. “Action will be taken soon by identifying the people involved in hiding the liquor,” said Chowdhary.

While the state has prohibited liquor sales, it has repeatedly come under fire for failure to implement the law which was imposed in a bid to curb alcoholism. The law sometimes also included holding the entire family liable to imprisonment if any one member is found violating the ban and in some cases even imposing a collective fine on the whole village.

(With inputs from agencies)

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