Cop booked as bootlegger dies in police custody in Sitamarhi

SITAMARHI/PATNA: A sub-inspector, Mosir Ali, was booked after a septuagenarian, who was arrested with smuggled country liquor, died in police custody inside Mehsaul police outpost under the Town police station area in Sitamarhi district on Monday night. Ali was in charge of the outpost.
The victim was identified as Vishwanath Choudhary (72). He was arrested with 18 litres of country-made liquor from his residence at ward number 3 in Krishna Nagar locality of Sitamarhi town hours before his death. The seized liquor was packed in small pouches of 180ml each.
Peeved at Choudhary’s death, locals blocked the road at Mehsaul Chowk in the town for several hours on Tuesday. The blockade was cleared only after senior officials pacified the protesters and assured them of proper investigation into the incident.
SHO of Town police station Vikash Kumar Rai said that Choudhary’s wife, Gayatri Devi, has lodged an FIR against SI Ali, accusing him of beating her husband to death in police custody.
Sitamarhi SP Har Kishore Rai said Ali had been placed under suspension for negligence of duty.
The SP added Choudhary was placed inside the lockup after his arrest. “Ali and others got busy preparing an FIR and doing other procedural works. After about an hour, they found Choudhary unconscious in the lockup. He was rushed to a local hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead,” Rai said.
The SP said Choudhary’s post-mortem was conducted by a medical board in presence of a magistrate on Tuesday. “According to the post-mortem report, Choudhary died due to a heart attack. No external injury mark was found on his body,” he said.
According to police, Choudhary and his wife were engaged in country liquor smuggling. “The two had been arrested on several occasions in the past,” Sadar SDPO Ramakant Upadhaya said.