Samastipur (Bihar), Sep 7 (PTI) A 22-year-old woman and her relative have been arrested in dry Bihar’s Samastipur district after they were found travelling in an air-conditioned first-class coach of a train with around 75 litres of liquor hidden in their luggage, an officer said on Monday.
The accused, identified as Neha Jha, and her brother-in-law Ishan Kumar war caught on Saturday night when the Delhi-Jainagar Swatantrata Senani Express reached Samastipur Junction, Government Railway Police SHO Birbal Kumar said.
“We had received information that two persons on board the train were carrying a large quantity of liquor. Initially, the accused tried to prevent the entry of the police team by bolting the coupe from inside,” the officer said.
“However, the team managed to enter the coupe and as the huge suitcases they were carrying were rummaged through, several bottles of branded, expensive liquor were found. The accused persons claimed the liquor was meant for a wedding in their family, to be held in the adjoining district of Darbhanga,” Birbal Kumar said.
The accused persons were tongue-tied when it was pointed out that sale and consumption of liquor is completely banned in the state, he said.
“They have been forwarded to judicial custody and the liquor has been seized. Further investigation is underway with the the help of local police,” the officer added.
Social media is replete with videos of the daintily dressed Jha pleading with police personnel on railway platform in fluent English.
Sources in Samastipur Police said Jha’s family has a history of involvement in illicit liquor trade and her father, too, had been in jail for the offence.
Call records of mobile phones of the accused are being examined as the police suspect their “clients” include well-known businessmen and medical practitioners in Darbhanga, one of the major towns in north Bihar. PTI CORR NAC ACD
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