Excise, GRP clash at Katihar Station during liquor raid

A team of the Excise & Prohibition Department officials and GRP personnel clashed in Katihar railway station on Friday over a raid, leaving a constable injured, officials said. The incident occurred when the prohibition team reached the station to intercept an alleged consignment of liquor reportedly being transported by train in dry Bihar.

While the excise department alleged that GRP personnel obstructed their operations and assaulted the team members, the railway authorities said that a "minor scuffle" occurred due to a misunderstanding.

Both sides are conducting investigations into the matter. "The officers of the prohibition team had come in plain clothes without providing any prior information to the railway officers. The GRP personnel approached them to enquire whether they were from any official unit, and a minor scuffle occurred due to a misunderstanding," Railway DSP Arun Kumar Akela said.

The matter was, however, promptly settled when one of the prohibition department officers showed his identity card, he claimed. "There are instances when notorious elements pose as police officers to conduct fake raids. It is difficult to tell the truth from lies in such cases," said Akela.

Excise department official Ravi Kishore Prasad, on the other hand, alleged that GRP personnel obstructed their operations and "resorted to physical assault." "Based on secret information that liquor was transported via Hate Bazare Express from Bengal, we had reached there to conduct a raid. However, GRP personnel misbehaved with our officers and physically assaulted us," he said.

Kishore said that the prohibition team regularly conducts combined raids with the Railway Police Force and had caught 61 litres of liquor from the same train on Thursday itself.

"We regularly conduct raids there, but the GRP personnel warned us this time that they will put us in jail if we conduct raids without permission," he said.

Constable Dev Shankar Jha of the Excise department sustained injuries in the clash and was taken to Katihar Sadar Hospital, officials said.

"We had gone to nab liquor smugglers, but were instead assaulted by uniformed personnel," Jha said.

Akela said that a clear picture of the incident will emerge only after a comprehensive investigation.

"At present, both sides are conducting a detailed inquiry to ascertain whether there was any lapse. If any fault is found, legal action will be taken against the officers concerned," he said.

Senior officers are looking into the matter so that such misunderstandings do not recur, the railway DSP added.

The Bihar Government in 2016 enforced a complete ban on the manufacture, trade, storage, transportation, sale, and consumption of liquor and intoxicants in the State.