Rats drank' 1,000 litres of alcohol: Bareilly police

Mumbai: After more than 1,000 litres of seized liquor disappeared from the police station, Bareilly police in Uttar Pradesh blamed rats for it. According to reports, some cans in which the liquor was stored were missing, while several cans were found empty with holes in them.

The liquor was seized from illegal manufacturing units. The incident came to light on Wednesday when cantonment police station’s head clerk inspected the malkhana and stumbled upon several cans lying empty.

Following the incident, superintendent of police (city) Abhinandan Singh said that an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain whether the liquor was consumed by rats. “We will catch this gang of rats to ensure that they are not able to enter the malkhana in future,” Mr Singh was quoted in a newspaper.

According to some reports, the experts have said that rats could consume liquor alternatively if they stayed at a place where water was not available. But the quantity of liquor which the police claimed that rats had consumed is unbelievable.

The superintendent of police Abhinandan Singh said an inquiry into the incident would be conducted to ascertain whether the liquor was consumed by rats or something else had happened to it.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that rodents have been blamed. They have been held responsible for disappearance of things or causing natural disasters.

The police in Bihar have in the past blamed rats for more than 9 lakh litres of alcohol going missing. In September 2017, two Bihar ministers had even blamed the rodents for flooding in the state. Earlier this year, mice were blamed for destroying currency notes worth more than Rs 12 lakh deposited in a State Bank of India ATM in Assam’s Tinsukia district.