by Suresh Pd Nikhar
Gaya: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested three youths at Gaya railway station on Thursday for possessing a significant quantity of foreign liquor. The arrests occurred on train number 13152, the Jammu Tawi Kolkata Express, during its journey from DDU to Gaya.
Around 6:45 PM, while the train was passing Kashtha station, the RPF escort team observed the three individuals acting suspiciously with heavy backpacks near the toilet of coach S7. The escort team promptly notified Inspector Ajay Prakash, the Inspector In Charge of Gaya, who instructed Sub-Inspector Javed Iqbal to assist in checking the suspects upon the train’s arrival at Gaya.
When the train reached platform number 3 at 6:53 PM, the team surrounded coach S7 and apprehended the three suspects along with their rucksacks. As they were questioned, the individuals identified themselves as Suraj Kumar (22) from Chiraili police station in Tekari, Jitendra Kumar (22) from Lov police station in Tekari, and Rohit Kumar from Ibrahimpur police station in Kinjar, Arwal district.
Upon conducting a thorough search in the presence of witnesses, officials recovered 14 bottles of English liquor (10.125 liters) from Suraj Kumar’s backpack, 12 bottles (8.250 liters) from Jitendra Kumar, and 39 bottles (14.445 liters) from Rohit Kumar. All the bottles were labeled “For Sale in Uttar Pradesh Only.”
During interrogation, the suspects admitted they were transporting the liquor from Kashi Railway Station to Gaya on the train without travel tickets, intending to smuggle it.
All seized liquor was documented, and the three individuals were arrested and handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP) station in Gaya along with a formal complaint. A case (number 267/24) was registered under section 30 (a) of the Bihar Excise Act, with an estimated value of the seized liquor totaling Rs 25,040.
