After High Court Intervention, Five Bihar Excise Officials Arrested in Dalit Man's Disappearance Case

In a case that has drawn scrutiny from the Patna High Court, five excise department officials and two private drivers have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of a 31-year-old Dalit man following a raid in Bhojpur district's Jagdishpur area in August 2024.

The case concerns Sanoj Kumar, who was allegedly detained during an excise department raid at Dharhara Musahar Toli near Bihiya on August 13, 2024, on suspicion of involvement in a liquor-related case. He has been missing since. While excise officials initially maintained that he escaped from custody, his family alleged that he was killed in custody and evidence was concealed.

The arrested officials include Assistant Sub-inspectors Dheeraj Kumar and Raj Kumar, and Home Guards Dharmendra Paswan, Umesh Kumar Yadav and Raju Kumar Singh. Two private drivers, Surendra Kumar Singh and Vikash Kumar, were also taken into custody. Six of them have been sent to judicial remand, while one is in police custody, Bhojpur Superintendent of Police Raj confirmed to The Indian Express.

The arrests followed sustained monitoring by the Patna High Court, which was informed on Thursday that six suspects had already been arrested and the remaining accused was being taken into custody. The court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Sanoj's father, Gauri Shankar Ram.

A Division Bench of Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Justice Kumar Manish noted that the investigation had revealed contradictory statements from the arrested excise personnel. The Bhojpur SP informed the court that the officers had been changing their statements, making incongruous and inconsistent claims. The court further learned that there had been a scuffle with the victim and that a private driver had put a towel around his neck and was pulling him.

Excise officials had cited CCTV footage to support their claim that Sanoj escaped by opening the rear compartment of the vehicle. However, after briefly viewing the footage, the High Court observed that the vehicle appeared to be fully closed from outside, making it impossible to flee by jumping out unless the back gate was opened.

The court ordered protection for key witnesses after police stated that the two others detained with Sanoj were afraid to come forward with the truth. It also recorded Sanoj's father's submission that several people had approached him to cover up the case, directed his protection, and asked police to investigate the allegations.

The case has drawn criticism from the High Court over the pace of investigation. On June 24, the court expressed dissatisfaction, noting that although seven members of the excise raiding team had emerged as suspects 10 months earlier, they had not been arrested or interrogated. The court observed that the probe was moving slowly and gave the impression that investigators were helping the accused.

Earlier, the court recorded that Sanoj had telephoned his father on the day of the raid, informing him that excise officials had detained him. His mobile phone last showed the tower location of the Jagdishpur excise police station. Investigators also found that the phone had not been sent for forensic examination when initially handed over.