Patna: The SHO of Bela police station in Muzaffarpur district was suspended on Wednesday after a large consignment of seized liquor went missing while it was being destroyed on the premises on Tuesday. A private clerk (munshi) and local contractor have also been arrested and sent to jail in this connection. The liquor stock was taken out of the police station by the accused in a car, which allegedly went unnoticed by Bela SHO Ranjana Verma. Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sushil Kumar said Bela station house officer (SHO) Ranjana Verma has been suspended for negligence on her part. “Departmental and legal actions will be taken against all personnel involved in the incident. Instructions have been given to make the liquor destruction process more transparent. The CCTV camera footage from the police station premises is being reviewed, while involvement of Verma, if any, is also being investigated,” said the SSP. According to police, the liquor was being destroyed at the backyard of the Bela police station premises by crushing the bottles in a pit with the help of a local contractor, Md Shahadat, and his workers. The destruction process was to be done in the presence of SHO Ranjana and a magistrate. But Ranjana allegedly left the backyard for a few minutes. Taking advantage of her absence, the contractor and private clerk Sujit, with the help of the workers, loaded 17 cartons of liquor into a car and transported them out. When the police officers present at the station knew about the disappearance of the liquor cartons, they immediately informed their seniors. Subsequently, the police recovered the missing consignment from Dheeranpatti area. “Considering the seriousness of the incident, city superintendent of police Vishwajeet Dayal and town-I SDPO Seema Devi arrived at the Bela police station on Tuesday night and began an investigation, which revealed that the alcohol was stolen with the collusion of the clerk, contractor and workers,” said the SSP.
