According to the Madhya Pradesh police in Bhopal, Chhindwara, an incident happened in a police warehouse called "Malkhana," where the rats chewed almost 60–65 plastic-sealed liquor bottles, which caused liquor to leak out. The liquor bottles had holes that indicated the same. Incharge police officer Umesh Gohlani said that these bottles were to be used as evidence for the case in court.
The warehouse where these items are stored has become a playground for the rats, said the officer. He added that the police station was also quite old, which explains that this was not an isolated incident. Prevention was taken by all of them; they managed to keep some rats in a cage and said that we would trap them and release them elsewhere.
Officer Umesh Gohlani also added that cannabis, such as ganja and hemp, and some documents were also targeted by the rats. The sack of cannabis was chewed by the rats. The rats also chewed the documents. To prevent this, they have started storing cannabis in iron tin boxes and have started putting documents at a height where they are out of reach of rats because if damaged by rats, they would cause more trouble. More things were stored at the malkhana, which is the warehouse, but only liquor bottles were found to be damaged more.
The officer said that we had decided to make a 'panchnama' report as per the procedure against the mishap that happened and submit it in the court for consideration. When asked if the court accepted the report, the officer said, "these issues are genuine, and normally they are considered by the court." Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu are also the states where rats are blamed for vanishing liquor bottles.
(Input from various media sources)
(Rehash/Zainab Pata)