Five murders in 43 days seem to be a tall order for police to crack. Add to it the pressure of the blasts at Gandhi Maidan and Patna Junction.

A string of murders in October and early November has suddenly put the men-in-uniform on their toes. July and August did not see any major incident of crime occurring. Now, the officers are back to the familiar refrain of investigations being “in progress” in the matter of unsolved cases.

“July and August were largely peaceful. However, the scenario suddenly changed last month (October). The trend continues. Several serious incidents of crime, mostly murders, occurred. Though investigations are on in each case, most remain unsolved,” a police officer told The Telegraph.

On October 19, criminals shot dead a state government employee, Kapil Sharma. On November 7, two middle-aged friends were first shot and then battered with stones, in Danapur’s Daldali Road area.

The police have made no headway in either case.

“We cannot talk or divulge anything about ongoing investigations. Named FIRs have been lodged against people, who are absconding at the moment,” said an officer posted at Danapur police station.

The Kapil Sharma case was the first in a string of murder cases that followed.

On October 24, businessman Ramji Prasad Gupta was killed in the heart of the state capital.

“The case is high-profile. The serial blasts slowed down the normal pace of the case,” said another police officer.

The only silver lining came in the murder case of Shailendra Kumar, which was solved in just 12 hours.

Putting up a defence, a deputy superintendent-rank officer said: “It isn’t that the police are sitting idle or nor working. If it were so, then there would have been more blasts at Gandhi Maidan and unexploded bombs wouldn’t have been recovered. In this case, two accused were nabbed in 12 hours.”

BLOODY TRAIL

Nov. 8: Badri Singh (85) shot dead at his Karwa residence late at night
Nov. 7: Middle-aged Rahul and Rakesh shot dead in Daldali Road area of Danapur around 10pm
Nov. 4: Shailendra Kumar (22) murdered in a Ram Nagar lodge room
Oct. 24: Businessman Ramji Prasad Gupta (50) gunned down at the basement of his Patliputra Colony apartment around 9pm
Oct. 19: Kamal Sharma (58), an assistant at the Patna divisional commissioner’s
office, shot dead near RPS Mor in Danapur at 9.30am