Patna, March 4: Police today arrested five sharpshooters of the Santosh Jha gang, including those the cops said were involved in the daylight murder of two engineers of a private road construction company in Darbhanga in December last year.

The killing - allegedly for extortion - of project manager Mukesh Kumar and field officer Brajesh Kumar near Shivram Chowk under the jurisdiction of Baheri police station in Darbhanga district, around 135km northeast of Patna, had led to the Opposition parties in Bihar attacking the Nitish Kumar government on the law and order issue.

The government had set up a special investigation team (SIT) comprising officials of the special task force, district armed police (DAP) and the criminal investigation department (CID) to crack the double murder case.

Earlier, the SIT had booked 10 members of the gang led by Maoist-turned-gangster Santosh Jha, who is lodged in Bhagalpur Central jail.

Director-general of police (DGP) P.K. Thakur said the five shooters were nabbed during intensive raids carried out in Nalanda, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur and East Champaran districts.

No weapon was seized from the possession of any of the arrested suspects, he added.

Nikesh Dubey was arrested from Chhatauni in East Champaran, Vikas Jha, while Pintu Jha, Karan Jha and Abhishek were apprehended from Nalanda, Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts.

Mukesh Pathak, the prime accused in the engineers' murder case, is still at large, the DGP said.

The police headquarters had submitted a proposal to the home department recommending rewards for those who nab the three shooters Vikas Jha (Sitamarhi), Nikesh Dubey (East Champaran) and Abhishek (Sheohar).

"The proposal is under the consideration of the government," DGP Thakur said, adding that the policemen who carried out the operation would be suitably rewarded. The shooters had fled the state after the incident. The members of the SIT conducted raids in six states - Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Bengal and Delhi - apart from Bihar in search of the fugitives.

They were caught as soon as they entered Bihar through Nepal and were looking for safe hideous, a senior IPS officer told The Telegraph.

Vikas and Nikesh are believed to be the right-hand men of Santosh. Nikesh's name had figured in the killing of his rival Chunnu Thakur in Muzaffarpur in 2010. Nikesh's younger brother, Rajesh Roshan, is a constable in the central reserve police force (CRPF).

His father, Vijay Dubey, is works with a private firm in Assam.

Vikas Jha, Mukesh Pathak and Abhishek were wanted by the police officials of East Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur and other neighbouring districts for their involvement in cases of extortion, murder, loot and kidnapping.

Darbhanga senior superintendent of police (SSP) A.K. Satyarthi said the police recently attached the movable property of most of the gangsters involved in the killing of the two engineers.

"Other members of the gang would be nabbed soon," he said.

DGP Thakur said the police would soon crack other high-profile cases.

"In any case, we will not allow the situation to go out of hand in the state. The morale of the police is high and it would be maintained," he said.

He evaded questions on the arrest of fugitive RJD MLA from Nawada Raj Ballabh Prasad, who is accused of raping a minor girl.