Bihar: Liquor mafia holds police, excise team hostage, 14 arrested
Darpan News Desk IANS, 06 Apr, 2023 11:22 AM
Patna, April 6 (IANS) At least 14 people have been arrested for holding hostage sleuths of district and excise department who had gone to raid liquor mafia in Bihar's Bagha police district.
The accused also misbehaved with female constables, an official said.
On Wednesday night, a team of district police and excise department went to Dharauli Dhangar Toli village and arrested a woman, Gayatri Devi, along with four liters of country-made liquor.
The sleuths have taken Gayatri in police van to go to the police station. However, the villagers attacked them and managed to release the accused. They also held hostage the entire team headed by inspector Prabhunath Singh.
When senior police officers received the information, they sent a heavy contingent of police force from Patkhauli outpost, Naurangia police station and Laukaria police station in the village and managed to rescue the team.
"We have registered an FIR against Gayatri Devi and other accused. Fourteen persons were arrested in this connection," said an officer of Laukaria police station.
The cause of the provocation is yet to be ascertained, an official told IANS, adding the situation is under control. Videos of the ruckus were viral on the social media. Many parked vehicles and a nearby police station was pelted on with stones.
The court had, on March 4, extended Sisodia's CBI custody for two days and listed his bail plea for March 10 and in the last two days, the CBI questioned him with key witnesses -- former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna and former excise department secretary C. Arvind -- in this case, who recorded their statements in front of a magistrate.
A police official said that the two men, wearing masks, entered the bank branch at around 9.45 a.m. when only three employees were present there, and threatened the staff with a pistol. They forced the staff to open the vault where Rs 10 lakh was kept and fled with the money by 10.30 am.
The Chief Minister, who reviewed the arrangements for the mega event here, said Punjab is fully ready to host the sessions and asked the officers to ensure foolproof arrangements for the working sessions slated to take place at the holy city of Amritsar next week.
The arrested customers have been identified as Anil, Rajan, Sagir, Abhishek and Harish. The house belongs to one Neeraj Bhati. Police recovered six mobile phones, Rs 2,100 in cash and objectionable items from their possession.
As during over one-hour address in English, the Governor was referring to 36 government school principals being sent on a five-day leadership development programme to Singapore, Bajwa again stood up and reminding Purohit about his letter to Mann on the issue.
