Excise officer caught taking Rs 31,000 bribe

PATNA: Vigilance sleuths on Tuesday arrested Haider Ali (46), an excise sub-inspector, while he was allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 31,000 from one Raja Kumar, an alleged liquor smuggler, at his rented house at Jai Prakash Nagar under Town police station in Khagaria district. Ali was allegedly accepting the bribe from Raja, from whose house liquor was recovered a fortnight back, to give him a clean chit in the case.
Surprisingly, the officer was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by a person who himself was evading arrest in connection with violation of prohibition.
Vigilance DSP Munna Kumar, who led the trap team, said this is for the first time after enforcement of total prohibition in the state that an excise official has been arrested on bribery charge.
“The excise department had raided the residence of Raja at Thana Road under Town police station in Khagaria a fortnight back and seized a carton of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL),” the DSP said, adding that Ali had sought bribe from Raja promising that his house won’t be sealed if he paid the money.
“Ali had initially demanded Rs 50,000 from Raja. The final deal was settled at Rs 40,000. Raja had handed over Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000 on two separate occasions to Ali,” the DSP said. He added that on October 20, Raja lodged a complaint with the vigilance department against Ali, accusing him of seeking bribe from him.
Khagaria excise superintendent, who did not wish to be named, said Ali had raided the residence of Raja for the first time a couple of months back and arrested him on the charge of keeping liquor at home. “After Raja was released on bail, Ali once again raided his house and recovered a carton of liquor from there. He then sought bribe from Raja to give him a clean chit in the case. Raja has been evading arrest in connection with fresh seizure of liquor from his house,” he said, adding that it’s being investigated how Raja got in touch with Ali despite being on the run.