Liquor bottles recovered from Patna Maurya Hotel owner's residence during ED raid

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recovered 14 bottles of liquor during a raid at the residence of SP Sinha – the owner of the famous Maurya Hotel in Patna, a police official said on Monday.

The Nitish Kumar government has imposed a state-wide ban on liquor under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, of 2016.

The ED officials, who recovered the carton of liquor, handed it over to the Rupaspur police station and later a case was registered at the Roopspur police station under sections of the Prohibition and Excise Act, the officer said.

After the recovery, Patna's excise department also searched Sinha and his CA's premises, but no recovery was made. Patna's SSP Rajeev Mishra said, "14 bottles of branded foreign liquor of 750 ml capacity were recovered from SP Sinha's house. Hence, a case under sections of the Liquor Prohibition Act has been registered against the responsible persons."

According to police sources, an ED team from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh arrived in Bihar on Saturday after a man linked to Maurya Hotel was caught with foreign currency at Banaras Cantt railway station.

ED launched the raid on Saturday evening which continued till Sunday evening. As the ED officials informed the local police, Sub-Inspector Kumari Anchala and her team reached SP Sinha's house, measured the recovered liquor and initiated further action.