A Vietnamese national was arrested from the Mahabodhi temple compound in Bodh Gaya for allegedly possessing three small bottles of liquor on Saturday.
Truong Hug Trung was arrested when he approached the checking point at gate number two inside the temple campus with two cartons. The police personnel manning the X-ray scanner suspected he was carrying something illegal and took him into custody for questioning. A search of the cartons yielded three foreign liquor bottles of 300ml each.
There is a total ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol in Bihar since April 2016. However, the prohibition is severely compromised by a nexus of the mafia, enforcement agencies and politicians. A deep-rooted underground network has developed to smuggle liquor from other states and Nepal and distribute it across Bihar.
“An FIR has been registered against Trung under Section 30(a) of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act and further action is being taken,” Gaya senior superintendent of police Ashish Bharti said.
Section 30(a) of the act stipulates a five-year jail term and Rs 1 lakh fine for the first offence pertaining to manufacturing, possessing, buying, selling, collecting, storing, bottling, importing, exporting, transporting and cultivating any intoxicant, including liquor and hemp. The punishment goes up to a rigorous imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of Rs 10 lakh for second and subsequent offences. The prison sentence can be extended to life.
Bodh Gaya police station in-charge Rupesh Kumar Sinha said Trung has been forwarded to jail and it was up to the court to decide on his bail.
The Mahabodhi temple marks the place where Siddharth attained enlightenment to become the Buddha. The structure, which dates back to the 4th century AD, is considered the most pious centre of pilgrimage for Buddhists around the world.
Though senior police officials projected the offence as a serious one, Buddhist monks pointed out that “some sects or branches of Buddhism use liquor in worship rituals”.
Earlier in January, a Buddhist monk from Russia was arrested at the Mahabodhi temple for carrying a small bottle of whisky. He claimed to have been carrying it for a ceremonial offering for his planned session of Buddhist tantra practice.
