Patna, Oct. 16: Police claimed to have identified the murderers of contractor Basant Kumar Singh though the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) failed to freeze the images of the assailants.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar told The Telegraph today: “The police are conducting investigations. The men who killed Basant have been identified. But the police will not disclose their identity because they are absconding. Attempts to arrest them are on and the case will be cracked soon.”

Sources said the mobile phone records of Basant were scanned. The police also talked to the family members of the deceased.

While the cops used all their resources to identify the murderers of Basant and zero in on them, their high expectations from the CCTV cameras installed at the CPWD building in the Punaichak area came a cropper.

“The CCTV cameras failed to record anything because they developed snag. The lack of CCTV footage made our task tougher. But we are working hard and a breakthrough is expected soon,” another police officer associated with the investigation of the case said.

Last Friday afternoon, 40-year-old Basant was shot dead on the first-floor of the CPWD building under the jurisdiction of Shastrinagar police station.

Police sources pointed out that the gang run by Sambhu and Mantu, two dreaded criminals, could be behind the killing of Basant. Ranjit Sonar gang is also on the suspect list, they added.

“Both these gangs are deadly. They extort contractors lapping up CPWD contracts. The murder can also be the fallout of a tussle between two gangs over some contract,” a police officer told The Telegraph.

Basant was engaged in the renovation of the excise and custom department building at Mokama, around 100km from the state capital. He had come down to the CPWD office on his bike last Friday around 1pm to meet Manoj Kumar Singh, a junior engineer.

Around 2pm, Basant stepped out of Singh’s cabin, right beside the staircase. All of a sudden, two persons fired at him from point-blank range.

Basant slumped to the ground, bleeding profusely. The assailants ran down the stairs to the ground floor unchallenged.

Two of their accomplices were waiting there. The four persons darted towards the parking lot, where they got on two motorcycles and sped away towards Punaichak, the police said.

Basant, who suffered five bullet injuries, died on the spot.