Rats, It's Now 'High' Time In Udaipur!

Like their cousin in Bihar, it seems Rajasthan's rodents do not quite believe in keeping matters bottled up.

An excise department official in Udaipur, when asked to present alcohol seized from a resident eight years ago, before a local court. He turned up with a pile of empty bottles, a lawyer said.

The official told the court yesterday that it was possible that the liquor had been polished off by rats.

The department had seized 36 beer bottles and 83 quarter bottles of liquor from the Udaipur resident on June 16, 2009.

"I had requested the court to summon excise department officials along with the seized liquor," Ganpat Chaudhary, representing the accused, told PTI.

"Everyone was surprised seeing the empty bottles that the excise department presented in court," he said.

The employee initially said the bottles were empty because of "natural reasons", and, when questioned, added that they might have been consumed by rats.

The court will now hear the case on May 15, Mr Chaudhary said.

Last week, the Bihar police said rodents had consumed more than 9 lakh litres of alcohol the police had seized from people flouting prohibition laws in the state.

The issue came up after media reports said the seized bottles were missing from police stores.