Patna, June 10: In the badlands of Bihar, guns spew vendetta fire.

The special police team, led by Patna railway police superintendent Vinay Kumar, believes that revenge could be the motive behind the murder of two railway contractors on the Howrah-Danapur Express yesterday.

“Prima facie, the murder appears to be a case of vendetta. The duo had many criminal cases pending against them, including murder charges. We are probing the railway tender rivalry angle,” inspector-general of railway police A.S Nimbran said. Police had registered a case against five people who were named in the statement by the Somnath Prasad, an accomplice of the murdered duo.

Prasad has named Ritlal Yadav, the mukhiya of Kothvan village of Khagaul, as the main accused in the statement.

However, police were yet to verify the statements of Prasad. It appeared that Prasad, a railway employee of Danapur, has criminal charges against him as well.

The official records at the Danapur divisional headquarters showed that the murdered duo did not obtain the tender from Calcutta. Instead, they had gone there to purchase material for the Koilvar bridge.

Danapur divisional railway manager (DRM) Prabhat Kumar told The Telegraph that the bids for painting the Koilvar bridge were opened simultaneously at Mughalsarai, Danapur and Hajipur, and not in Calcutta, on January 29.

“The contract, worth Rs 23 lakh, was awarded by the authority concerned on April 30 to one Bhola Prasad,” he said.

The victims were believed to be associates of Prasad.

After the bifurcation of the Eastern Railway and the creation of the East Central zone with Hajipur as the headquarters, tenders for Bihar ceased to be opened from Calcutta, sources said.