In a major embarrassing incident for Bihar Police, thieves stole liquor bottles from a police station in Muzaffarpur district in the state. The incident took place on Friday (22 September) night, when thieves stole seized alcoholic beverage bottles kept at the Sikandarpur Police Out Post. It is notable that alcohol is banned in Bihar and the police regularly seize smuggled liquor.
There was heavy rain on Friday night, due to which the cops on duty were assembled at one place. The thieves took advantage of this opportunity and broke the wall of the store room at the rear of the police station, stealing five boxes and a bag full of confiscated liquor bottles. The police present there had no idea that the police station was being robbed, and the matter came to light only on the next day.
When the cops noticed on Saturday morning that the liquor bottles were missing, they were shocked. The police then started search operations in the area. During the search, it was found that a man was missing from last night, and the police started an operation to find him. After some time, the man was caught under the Akharaghat bridge.
During the interrogation, he confessed to the crime and said that he had kept some bottles in an old fridge at a junkyard near the police outpost. The accused Bhola Kumar said that he had an associate, and they split the loot after stealing them.
Bhola Kumar said that on Friday night, his accomplice took him to the police station, and he was carrying a chisel and a rod. He climbed the wall of the police station using a nearby poll, and made hole in the wall by breaking a ventilator using the chisel and the rod. During this, he asked Bhola to keep a watch. After the hole was made, Bhola’s partner entered the store room through it, and passed 5 cartons and a bag full of liquor to him.
The accomplish gave two cartons and the bag to Bhola, and he left with 3 cartons of liquor. They were planning to sell the liquor in the market the next day. But the police search already started before they could sell it, and Bhola hid under the Akharaghat bridge. However, he was nabbed by the police.
As per his confession, police recovered his share of the stolen liquor from an old fridge near a junkyard. OP in-charge Devabrata Kumar said that the raid is still going on to catch the other thief and recover the other half. He confirmed that the liquor recovered from the fridge was the same liquor stolen from the police.
The police said that a total of 56 litres of liquor were stolen, and 32 litres have been recovered. Devabrata Kuma added that the police OP house is old and the walls are dilapidated, and therefore the thieves were able to break it easily.
Due to prohibition in Bihar, the police regularly catch smuggled liquor and keep them in store rooms of police stations before final disposal. The thieves knew that there were liquor bottles at the Sikandarpur Police Out Post as there was a seizure just a few days ago, and used the opportunity of the heavy rain to steal them. Even though police have arrested one thief and recovered half of the stolen items, it remains a major embarrassment for them.