Patna: Rats have come in the firing line once again.
Days after they were blamed for guzzling around one million litres of alcohol kept in police storerooms, the poor rodents are now being held responsible by the cops for “destroying” confiscated hard cash.
Accusing fingers were pointed at rats after Rs83,801 (Dh47,75) went mysteriously missing from the storeroom of Phulwarisharif police station in Patna recently. However, the court has taken the disappearance of hard cash very seriously.
As per reports, the police had recovered the said amount during a raid conducted at the house of Jehanabad jailbreak accused Ajay Kanu, a dreaded Maoist commandeer now in jail, and his three relatives in Patna in 2002. The confiscated amount was later deposited in the storeroom of the Phulwarisharif police station. The raid was carried out in connection with a serious criminal case pending against Kanu.
In 2010, the court acquitted all the accused persons in the case for want of evidence and ordered the police to return the confiscated money to them but the court’s order is yet to be complied with as the seized cash has gone missing from the police storeroom. Now, the cops are blaming rats for nibbling away the cash, reports said.
Earlier this month, rats had been accused by the policemen of guzzling around a million litres of seized alcohol stocks stored in police stations, prompting the authorities to issue orders to drive out rodents from police offices.
The rats came in for criticism at a meeting of police inspectors held in Patna to review the law and order situation in the state capital in view of the ongoing the civic elections, which are now under way.
Reports said during the course of the meeting, the SSP inquired from the officials about the status of the seized contraband stored in police station and it was then that majority of his subordinates blamed rats for destroying almost all the alcohol bottles. As the matter came to light, the authorities began destroying the seized liquor stock kept in police storerooms.
