In dry state Bihar, district officer arrested after ‘arriving drunk' to event attended by minister
The event, organised on National Fish Farmers Day Thursday, was attended by state Minister for Public Health and Engineering Neeraj Kumar Singh, District Magistrate Sawan Kumar and several other senior officials, including the accused, District Fisheries Officer Shambhu Kumar. Sources said, during the event the DM received complaints about irregularities in distribution of fisheries kits and called Shambhu Kumar to inquire about the same.
During the interaction, the DM felt the officer was slurring and behaving in an erratic manner, said the sources. He directed Shambhu Kumar to report to Circuit House and alerted the Excise Department.
'Yesterday, about 1 pm, the DM called to report that an officer appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and asked us to reach the Circuit House with a breath analyser. The breath analyser test was done and the officer was found to be intoxicated,' said Ashok Kumar, Inspector, Excise and Prohibition.
The Inspector said the officer's breath analyser report showed '10 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood', and he was arrested. The Excise Department learnt that it was the officer's last working day in Supaul and he was to join another posting next day.
'We found that he had previously been apprehended for intoxication at Bhimnagar checkpost on March 9, 2024. The officer, being a first-time offender, was fined between `2,000 and `5,000 as per the court order,' Ashok Kumar said.
A source said the accused officer denied consuming alcohol and said he had taken some homeopathic medicine, which might have been mistaken for alcohol intake. He gave the same explanation for his previous detention as well, said the source.
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