Cops blame rats for disappearance of seized illicit liquor from police station

Etah (UP), March 28 (PTI): A probe has been initiated into a claim by officials of a local police station that rats were behind the disappearance of a large number of seized cartons of illicit liquor from a strongroom.

A senior police officer said over 1,400 cartons of liquor have gone missing from the Kotwali Dehat police station here and a case has been registered against Station House Officer Indreshpal Singh and clerk Rishal Singh.

However, a general diary at the police station mentions that 239 cartons have been damaged by rats, which the senior police officer said seems to be fishy and unacceptable.

Superintendent of Police, Etah, Udai Shankar Singh on Sunday confirmed the development and said that a probe is on in this regard. He, however, refused to elaborate further.

A senior police officer of the district told PTI, “A week ago, it came to light that around 1,450 cartons of illicit liquor seized are missing from Kotwali Dehat police station.”

When asked whether some cartons have been damaged by rats, the police officer said, “The general diary of the police does mention that 239 cartons were damaged by rodents. However, this is not acceptable, and it seems that the matter is fishy. It has been probably done to cover the goof-up.”

A case has been registered against SHO Indreshpal Singh and clerk Rishal Singh. Both of them had not turned up to provide an explanation for the incident despite summons issued in their names, he said.

Meanwhile, Vikas Kumar, a police officer from Aligarh who is probing the case, said, “Efforts are on to ascertain as to where the seized liquor has gone.”