Patna: Expressing displeasure over the “high-handedness” of the Bihar Police in seizing a truck in Gopalganj nearly 10 months ago merely on a “liquor-like smell feeling” of an erring police officer, the Patna high court has imposed a cost of Rs 2 lakh on the state govt, to be paid to the vehicle owner.A division bench of justices Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Kumar Manish, while allowing a writ petition filed by Rajesh Kumar Yadav, the truck owner, also directed the state govt to verify the physical condition of the seized truck, which has been lying at the Kuchaikote police station premises in Gopalganj since Aug 14 last year. The court further ordered that if any damage or pilferage is found, the owner must also be compensated for the loss.The two judges also directed the state govt to fix responsibility on the erring officers and recover the compensation amount from them. The verdict was delivered on June 17 but a copy of it was made available on Friday.The high court also expressed astonishment over the admission made by police sub-inspector Satyendra Rai. Despite claiming to have investigated 40 cases related to liquor prohibition, the officer admitted before the court that he had not gone through the relevant provisions of the prohibition law.Police sub-inspector Satyendra Rai had seized the truck on Aug 14 last year merely on his suspicion that the vehicle might have been engaged in liquor smuggling, as he had “felt liquor like smell emanating from cabin of said truck”.The Gopalganj SP assured the high court that strict administrative action would be taken against the erring police personnel in the case.
