Patna, Dec 22 (IANS): While Bihar police claim to be busy cracking down on liquor mafias, over 100 chowkidars in the state have suspended work for an indefinite period and sat on a dharna in Patna.

The agitated chowkidars alleged that while they are passing secret information to the police pertaining to the activities of liquor mafias in their respective jurisdictions, the police are leaking the information to the liquor mafias, leading to attacks on them.

"The job of the chowkidars is to collect secret information about liquor mafias in their respective jurisdictions, which we are doing without any hesitation. But once we pass the information to the SHOs and sub-inspectors at the police stations, they disclose our names to the liquor mafias. As a result, there are threats to our lives. We are frequently facing attacks by liquor mafias," said Mohamad Sahzaad Khan, a chowkidar in Nawada.

Another chowkidar, Satyendra Kumar, said: "We are working round-the-clock and doing every job, including sanitation work at police stations, distribution of notices and summons, keeping eye on the activities of strangers outside banks, apart from monitoring the activities of liquor mafias. But whenever incidents of spurious liquor claiming human lives are reported, we come under fire."

"We are an unarmed force and our job is to collect the information and pass it to the senior officers of the police department. It is the job of the SHOs and other officers to act against liquor mafias, which they are not doing. Moreover, they are putting our lives in danger by leaking our information to them. We are extremely scared now," said R.N. Yadav from Madhepura.