When the excise and police officials stopped a car with ‘Bharat Sarkar’ (Government of India) written on its fore and aft during a routine checking at the Balthari check post in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, they were in for a surprise.

One of the two persons in the vehicle posed as one Rajesh Kumar, an assistant commissioner working with the income tax department in Delhi. The other one identified himself as his driver Mujendra Kumar.

A search of the car yielded eight cartons of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), immediately turning them into violators of the prohibition in Bihar. But Rajesh started imposing on the officials and pressing them to allow them to go.

However, the excise and police officials arrested both of them and seized the vehicle.

“We interrogated Rajesh and he revealed that he was a liquor smuggler from Delhi masquerading as an income tax assistant commissioner to cross the check post without any hurdle. He was taking the consignment to one Baccha Babu in Saran district,” Gopalganj excise superintendent Rakesh Kumar told reporters.

Several documents and government seals have been recovered from the fake income tax officer’s possession.

Rakesh added that further investigations are going on to trace the backward and forward linkages of the arrested persons.

Bihar went dry in April 2016 with a total ban on sale, purchase, trade, manufacturing and consumption of all types of liquor. Its violation could lead up to life imprisonment and even death sentence.