Rats guzzled down booze worth ₹20K, claims excise department

JAIPUR: After Bihar, now rats in Rajasthan seem to have finished off alcohol worth ₹20,000.

Eight years ago alcohol worth ₹20,000 was seized in Udaipur from Piyush Sahalka. When a local court asked the excise department to present the consignment, all that they could produce was empty bottles. The department in 2009 had seized 36 beer bottles, whisky bottles and country liquor.

“An official of the excise department told the court that the bottles were empty because rats had finished it off. He also cited dampness inside the malkhana (store room) as another reason,” Ganpat Choudhary, an advocate representing an accused, told HT.

Choudhary had requested the additional chief judicial magistrate (court-3) in Udaipur to ask the department to present the seized bottles in court during the hearing. “Everyone was surprised seeing the empty bottles that the excise department presented in court,” he said.

“This shows the dilapidated state of the excise department malkhanas in the state, where they store confiscated items. Even the cartons in which the alcohol had been kept couldn’t be traced and they were brought to the court wrapped in a cloth,” said Choudhary.

A similar case was reported in Bihar a few days ago where the police had said that rodents were responsible for the disappearanceofthealcoholworth₹9lakh from its malkhanas.

When HT contacted Yogesh Shrivastava, district excise officer, Udaipur, he said that the facilities for storing confiscated items are not adequate. “Every excise circle in the district is allotted one room for storing confiscated items, which is not enough. All the items confiscated by the department over the years are stored in this room, which results in damage,” said Shrivastava.

The court will now hear the caseonMay15,Choudharysaid.