Patna: Fifty-five people have been arrested for violating liquor laws in the state capital, police said Monday.
Following the direction of the divisional commissioner, Patna Police conducted raids at 80 hotels and 12 slum clusters on Sunday night to check on liquor violations.
The arrested included a railway guard, hotel manager and a contractor.
Meanwhile, guests coming in the hotels for marriages claimed that the Patna Police breached their privacy by conducting raids.
A video went viral on social media showing a team of Patna Police conducting a raid in a marriage hall without any women cops. The male policemen entered into the rooms of women guests and searched their belongings, including suitcases, cupboards and toilets.
“During the search, an officer of the Patna Police told us that his team is following the orders from higher authorities and that they are under huge pressure,” Sunil Kumar, a guest at the marriage party said.
He added that they tried to reason with the police, saying that “the guests from the groom’s side drank liquor during the marriage party.”
Senior Superintendent of Police Upendra Sharma said, “We have arrested over 300 persons ever since the direction given by Sanjay Agrawal, the Divisional Commissioner (DC) of Patna. Such raids will continue in the coming days.”
The DC has directed the authorities to strictly implement liquor ban in the state.
Under the directives, the operators of marriage halls, banquet halls, Dharamshalas and hotels will have to install CCTV cameras at every place to keep an eye on the activities of guests. The idea is to stop violation of liquor prohibition law.