PATNA: Vikas Kumar, the son of Siwan’s BJP MLA Vyas Deo Prasad, and four of his friends were taken into custody on the charge of consuming alcohol by Bihar Police in the dry state on Sunday night.
The five men were returning home after attending a wedding ceremony when they were stopped near UP-Bihar border.
This is the second incident of a BJP leader’s son being arrested on charge of consuming alcohol in Bihar. On April 22, Rahul Kumar Manjhi, the son of BJP MP Hari Manjhi, was arrested for consuming alcohol with his friends.
Consumption, sale, and manufacture of alcohol have been strictly banned across Bihar since April 2016.
The liquor law has stringent provision of a minimum 10-year jail, which could extend to life term, besides fine from Rs 1 lakh to Rs10 lakh. More than 1.41 lakh people have been arrested so far for violating the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, so far.
“Two bottles of liquor were also seized from the car that Vikas Kumar was driving. He and the four other occupants of the car were found to have consumed alcohol,” Siwan SP Navin Chandra Jha said, adding that the arrests were made during a routine check of vehicles by a police team.
The BJP legislator, however, denied that his son was drunk. “My son does not drink alcohol. I do not understand how he was found to have drunk,” Prasad claimed.
Siwan’s BJP MP Om Prakash Yadav and some other party leaders reportedly met Jha and told him that the MLA’s son was not in the habit of drinking alcohol.
“He (Vikas Kumar) is a simple youth, and he is never known to be in the habit of drinking,” the BJP MP told reporters.
Senior RJD leader Vikram Kunwar decried the BJP MP’s efforts to help a person accused of violating Bihar’s stringent anti-alcohol law.
“Nobody violating the prohibition law is spared. No matter whether the offender is the son or daughter of politicians,” JD(U) leader Ajay Alok said.