A havildar and a woman home guard personnel of the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Bihar have been arrested after they seized 36 bottles of liquor from a passenger but did not report the seizure, police said on Thursday.
They were arrested after a passenger, who had recorded the two seizing the 36 bottles packed in four bags on the train, released the video. As senior police officers learned of the seizure, they checked the CCTV footage at Hajipur Junction station. The claims checked out.
Muzaffarpur Rail superintendent of police (SP) Beena Kumari said Havildar Narendra Kumar Singh and Archana Kumari, a home guard personnel, were arrested under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act.
The SP said 36 bottles containing 27 litres of liquor, which were packed in four bags, have been retrieved from the two personnel.
She said Havildar Singh, Kumari, and two other personnel were assigned to escort the Amritsar–Saharsa Garib Rath Express on the Chhapra–Hajipur route. During the journey, the two spotted the contraband in a coach at Chhapra station and seized the bottles. They unloaded the consignment at Hajipur Junction but did not inform the local GRP police station or deposit the seized liquor.
But a person had secretly filmed them seizing the liquor.
The Hajipur GRP initiated an inquiry and scanned CCTV footage from the station. Upon questioning, both accused confessed to concealing the liquor and led police to the four bags.
Narendra Kumar Singh had been posted at the Hajipur GRP station for two years and was due to retire next year. Archana Kumari (24) had been attached to the GRP a year ago.