PATNA: A sales tax deputy commissioner of
Uttarakhand and his driver were arrested in
Siwan district late on Friday evening on charges of consuming liquor in violation of prohibition law in the state. The officer, Abhay Kumar Pandey, who is posted in Roorkee, was arrested from Tenwa Bazaar under the Guthani police station area in the district.
Siwan SP Naveen Chandra Jha on Saturday said the driver, Lalu Jaiswal (27), was also found in an inebriated state.
“Two liquor bottles were recovered from the officer’s car. Pandey had come to Guthani from his native place Deoria in
Uttar Pradesh to attend the marriage of one of his relatives,” the SP added.
SHO of Guthani police station Mithilesh Kumar said Pandey’s car was stopped during a routine vehicle checking drive. “Two liquor bottles were recovered from the car. Pandey and Jaiswal were subjected to breathalyser tests, which confirmed that they were fully drunk. The two were later sent to a primary health centre for medical examination. The medical examination reports also confirmed presence of alcohol in their blood samples,” the SHO said.
Complete prohibition was enforced in
Bihar on April 5, 2016.