Bihar police take goat as bribe

Authorities have ordered an investigation into the incident

Police in Bihar have come under fire after they were accused of taking a goat as a bribe to release a businessman caught drunk in a state that has imposed total prohibition.

Authorities have now ordered an investigation into the matter after local media highlighted the issue.

As per reports, Patna police were checking vehicles making their entry into the town on Monday night when they came across a pick-up van carrying 27 goats. The goats belonged to four businessmen from Begusarai district. They had come to the capital town to sell the goats.

During the checking, one of the four businessmen, identified as Mohammad Zafir, was caught in an inebriated condition, after which the cops seized the vehicle and took it to the local Kotwali police station.

The next day, the policemen kept one of the goats with them, saying they wanted a “mutton party” in lieu of releasing their vehicle. The poor trader didn’t want to spare a goat. but as the cops were insistent on their demand, they had to agree.

One of the businessmen then chanced upon a journalist from a news channel and reported the matter. The TV cameramen then took a photo of the goat tied to a pole in the police station, leading to the matter being exposed. Even as the cops scrambled to release the goat, by then everything had been exposed. “We have come to the knowledge of a goat accepted by the police as bribe. A formal investigation has been ordered,” Patna’s senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaj told media yesterday.