JD-U ex-legislator Lalan Ram arrested, suspended from party post liquor ban violation

Patna: Janata Dal-United (JD-U) former legislator Lalan Ram has been arrested, and also sacked from the party for violating the ban on consuming liquor in Bihar. Lalan Ram was arrested on Wednesday evening after a video clip showed him consuming beer and saying, "Wherever he (Chief Minister Nitish Kumar) will go, (he will find) nobody complies with it (the liquor ban)." "Taking serious note of the violation of a total liquor ban by him, the JD-U has suspended him on the charge of giving a bad name to the party," JD-U spokesman Sanjay Singh said. According to police officials, a case was lodged against Lalan Ram, former legislator from Kutumba constituency in Aurangabad district of Bihar, by the excise department for violation of liquor ban. The arrest then followed. Lalan Ram is the second JD-U leader after Manorama Devi to have been arrested and suspended from the party for violation of liquor ban in Bihar since the state government imposed the prohibition with effect from April 5 this year.