52-year-old cop mowed down by car carrying liquor in Bihar, 1 held

A police sub-inspector (SI) was killed and a home guard was injured in Begusarai district of Bihar after they were mowed down by a liquor-laden vehicle, which they tried to intercept late on Tuesday, police said on Wednesday.

While the owner of the car was later arrested, a special team has been formed to nab the driver who is absconding, police added.

Sale, transportation and consumption of alcohol was banned in Bihar in 2016.

According to Begusarai superintendent of police (SP) Yogendra Kumar, the incident took place on Chhatauna bridge in Dhanauta area, after a team of Nawakothi Police arrived upon receiving information that liquor was being transported in a car.

“The Nawakothi Police received information that liquor was being transported in a car. Based on the information, a night patrol vehicle was sent to the spot. At around 12.30am, police found an Alto car coming from the opposite direction. SI Khamas Choudhary (52), along with three other home guards, was standing on the Chhatauna bridge built over Budhi Gandak River,” Kumar said.

“Seeing the police vehicle, the car driver increased his speed and knocked down Choudhary and home guard Baleshwar Yadav before fleeing the spot. The SI fell from the bridge and his body was found on the boulders just below the bridge. He died on the spot due to a head injury,” he added.

The home guard sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment at Sadar Hospital, he said.

Recalling the incident in the hospital, Yadav said the vehicle initially slowed down after the SI signalled it to stop. “As the SI went near the vehicle, the driver increased the speed and fled,” he said.

Police said the vehicle was later seized from Muffasil police station area and its owner, Rupesh Kumar, was arrested.

Begusarai SP said that they had tip off about liquor being smuggled in the car, based on which, the police office tried to intercept the vehicle. A few hours later, the car was found from Muffasil police station area, around 10 km from the incident place. Police suspect that the driver managed to flee with liquor consignments.

“During interrogation, Rupesh said the vehicle was driven by one Kartikey Singh, who remains at large. The vehicle owner may be involved in liquor smuggling. So, police have registered an FIR against both the owner and the driver,” the SP said.

While the owner was booked under Section 120b (conspiracy), the driver was booked under 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code. Police said a special team has been formed to probe the incident and nab the driver.

The incident triggered a political row after the BJP slammed the government over its “wrong policies”.

“Due to the wrong policies of liquor ban, due to the stubbornness of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, a lot of innocent people had to go to jail. A lot of people were killed by liquor mafias… Who is responsible for this? Nitish Kumar!” Union minister Giriraj Singh said.

“Nitish Kumar, please let go of your stubbornness and review your decision by calling an all-party meeting,” he added.

“There is complete Jungle Raj in Bihar. Liquor mafia runs over a cop and injures a home guard. Earlier, sand mafia had killed a cop on duty…,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, referring to the death of an SI, after he was mowed down by a tractor carrying illegally mined sand in Jamui district last month.

State excise minister Sunil Kumar assured strict action in the matter.

“Let us wait for the police report, and we’ll ensure that from next time, the standard operating procedure is followed and the police will go with adequate strength for raids. Secondly, we’ll ensure that the morale of the excise and police personnel stays up. We will also ensure the arrest and speedy trial of the culprits, so that there is no recurrence of such incidents,” he said.