A senior BJP leader from Buxar is among four persons who have allegedly received extortion demands in the past two days and one person was killed in Nawada on Monday night allegedly for failure to pay up gangsters.

The leader from Buxar, Pradip Dubey, allegedly received threats to his life after he failed to cough up Rs 28 lakh to a gang. Dubey has sought police protection for himself and his family; the gangsters have allegedly threatened to teach him a lesson within 48 hours. The threat letter was sent to Dubey's residence in Buxar town, around 140km west of Patna, through a post on Monday. The letter was signed by the "Panther gang", which has unleashed a reign of terror in the region lately.

Dubey, who had unsuccessfully contested the state Assembly polls from Buxar last year, met the district magistrate and the superintendent of police (SP) on Tuesday, requesting them to take appropriate action. "My family is living under constant fear," said Dubey, former state president of the BJP's youth wing.

When contacted, Buxar SP Upendra Kumar Sharma said the criminals would not be spared.

"There is no reason for him (Dubey) to get worried. The police will leave no stone unturned to ensure the accused is put behind the bars at the earliest," Sharma said.

Earlier, Buxar district magistrate Raman Kumar had promised all help to the BJP leader.

This is not the first time a politician from the district has received extortion demand. Earlier, RJD MLA from Buxar Sadar, Munna Tiwary, and former legislator Dadan Singh Pahalwan had received similar threat letters. Nothing happened in both the cases.

In East Champaran, three prominent businessmen, Pramod Kumar, Mankeshwar Prasad and Alok Kumar, were threatened with dire consequences after they failed to pay Rs 15 lakh each as extortion. All three reported the matter to the Motihari town police on Sunday. Motihari town police station house officer (SHO) Ajay Kumar confirmed that extortion cases had been lodged. "Efforts are on to ascertain the identity of the gang. The police have not yet been able to make any significant progress in the cases," the SHO said.

Pramod runs a grocery shop near Chhatauni chowk, Mankeshwar owns Jai Maa Vaishno Traders and Alok Kumar deals in glass products. The police have found that the calls to the three businessmen were made from the same SIM.

A senior police officer posted in East Champaran district said a new gang of extortionists is raising its head in the district headquarters town, which is close to the Nepal border. The callers had introduced themselves as office bearers of a certain Ram Krishna Seva Samiti.

In Nawada, a farmer cum businessman Shankar Singh - who had unsuccessfully contested panchayat election last year - was shot dead at Karam village under the jurisdiction of Akbarpur police station following an altercation over payment of extortion money. Shankar was allegedly threatened by a man called Pappu Singh.

Akbarpur SHO Ranjeet Kumar said Shankar had gone to watch a cultural show at the village on Monday night when he was attacked. Five persons, including Pappu and his father Karu Singh, have been made named accused in the case. Karu was arrested on Tuesday and forwarded to judicial custody.

The four other accused, Pappu, Mithu Singh, Subhash Singh and Tissu Singh, are absconding. Shankar's father Ram Briksha Singh claimed Pappu had criminal antecedents.

Last week, two sons of a Delhi-based marble trader were kidnapped from the Patna airport premises and later released in Kajra forest in Lakhisarai district.

"The law and order situation is more or less the same when RJD ruled the state before 2005," said senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav.

Additional director-general of police (headquarters) Sunil Kumar denied that crime has shot up. "I don't agree that the crime has increased. If you have doubts, then go through the official records. You will get the answer," he asserted.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY R.N. SINGH IN MOTIHARI