Using secret code, tipplers continue to quench their thirst in dry Bihar

More than a year after prohibition was enforced strictly in Bihar, tipplers in the State continue to quench their thirst. The news would not have made national headlines had the cops earlier this month not accused rodents of guzzling up confiscated liquor from malkhana (store).

While no one was ready to buy the bizarre claim of cops in media that rodents turned ‘drunkards’ and consumed around 9 lakh litres of seized alcohol stored in different malkhanas of police stations, it has now come to light that the prohibited alcohol is easily available to those who know the liquor lingo.

“All you need to know is the secret code or terminology used for different brands,” a businessman told Deccan Herald. While ‘Jehangir’ is the code for IMFL (Indian made foreign liquor), a demand for ‘one litre of milk’ means the person has ordered for a large bottle (of alcohol).

In towns like Jogbani and Forbesganj, which share border with Himalayan Kingdom in north, tipplers use the code ‘Nepal’ to procure liquor. In western Bihar districts Rohtas and Bhabua which share border with Uttar Pradesh, one has to use the code ‘Fruti’ if someone has to order an IMFL. And if you want to order small or large bottle, then say ‘chota syrup’ or ‘bada syrup’ as per the requirement.

“Initially, prohibition was strictly enforced. But now, the bacchus lovers are a having a field day throughout Bihar. A police officer recently told me how his income has increased manifold (since prohibition laws are quite stringent and no body wants to be arrested while drinking),” a senior lawyer told this correspondent.

And what about the trucks and other vehicles laden with liquor being seized everyday, besides drunkards arrested?“If three trucks are carrying the prohibited item, one of them is seized. The rest two go scot-free. The cops get appreciation for carrying out their duty while boozers get their drinks available, albeit with a premium,” said the lawyer, arguing that prohibition could never be strictly enforced in a State like Bihar which shares porous border with Nepal in the north, West Bengal in the east, UP in the west and Jharkhand in the south.

Bihar was declared a dry State in April 2016. Fourteen months later, sample these facts:

Sept 2016: Patna police recover more than 300 bottles of liquor from the house of a woman constable Meenu Jha. The seized liquor include 18 bottles each of Godfather beer and Thunderbolt, 270 bottles of Royal Stag, 18 bottles of Hundred Pipers and five bottles of Scotch Whisky.

May 4, 2017: Bihar Police Men’s Association president Nirmal Singh is arrested for allegedly consuming liquor at Police Lines.

May 17: A CRPF jawan SK Singh is arrested from Vaishali on the charge of being drunk. Two litres of country liquor is also seized from him.

May 20: Mala Devi, a woman constable of Crime Investigation Department, is arrested after police recover 19 pouches of Jharkhand-made country liquor from her house in Bakhtiyarpur.