Destroy Seized Alcohol Publicly: Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said that he gave orders to "publicly destroy" seized alcohol, dismissing reports that rodents had gulped more than nine lakh litres of liquor, as claimed by police officials.

"The reports were an attempt to defame Bihar," Mr Kumar said dismissing media reports that rats consumed liquor kept in police stations' stores.

"I have ordered for destruction of liquor publicly. Keep sample of the seized liquor bottles and inform the courts about it. The seized nine lakh litres liquor have been destroyed," Mr Kumar said.

The chief minister was addressing the 11th foundation day function of Mahavir Vatsalya cancer hospital in Patna.

Reports of over 9 lakh litres of Indian and foreign alcohol seized in raids and swilled by rats in the dingy stores of police stations had ruffled feathers in Bihar recently.

Stung by the news reports, Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal and senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaj had in a face-saving bid supervised an operation to destroy seized liquor bottles by running a road roller over the bottles spread on roads.