In the 1970s and 1980s, in-laws close to the power throne considered themselves above the law but these days it's the leaders and their children who are taking the law in their hands and arrogantly so.

The cold-blooded murder of 19-year-old Aditya Sachdeva for allegedly not allowing an MLC's son right of way has shocked people far and wide. Chief minister Nitish Kumar's claims of rule of law and promises of justice fall flat on people's ears as the legacy of power and the excesses linger on.

Senior politician and former minister Nand Kishore Yadav disagrees with Nitish's alleged stance of treating Saturday's road rage as any other crime.

"It's not any other crime. It's a trend that must be stopped because it has been committed by an MLC's son," he told The Telegraph. "Power always has an intoxicating influence on family members. They begin to think they are above the law and can get away with anything."

Decades ago Bihar saw the rise of "in-laws" - relatives of chief ministers would openly flaunt their proximity to power and hold parallel courts expecting government officials and police to succumb to their wishes. Two of the prime examples of this parallel power regime were RJD chief Lalu Prasad's brothers-in-law Sadhu and Subhash Yadav.

Lalu described the two as "power sub-stations", and they struck terror.

Sadhu and his men once manhandled a senior IAS officer in his office for refusing to oblige to a demand for an employee's transfer. Subhash allegedly abused an IAS officer's wife when she objected to him jumping the queue to vote.

Sadhu and Subhash were not the only ones to misuse their relatives' reach of power. Others followed suit.

A minister's son shot a dance girl in Madhepura, while another's child beat a coaching institute's owner. Lalu finally had to appeal all his MLAs and ministers to restrain their kin.

When Nitish came to power, the people were promised the rule of law. But in spite of statistics pointing at improvement in law and order situation, politicians' kin continue to break the law.

In 2009, former MP Vijay Krishna's son Chanakya was named in the murder of political activist Satyendra Singh. Vijay and Chanakya were convicted in the case in 2014.

This year, RJD MLA Kunti Devi's son Ranjeet Yadav beat up a doctor at a government hospital. Couple of months ago, JDU MLA Sarfraz Alam was accused of sexually harassing a woman co-passenger. Alam, the son of senior politician Mohammad Taslimuddin, was in news in the 1990s too for beating a police constable who dared to stop his vehicle.

Police said these are just few of the cases known but there are several instances of politicians' children abusing policemen, violating traffic rules, abusing commuters and eve-teasing that go unreported. "They normally drop their fathers' names and the poor constables get terrified," said a senior police official.

The RJD and JDU are now tight-lipped over Aditya's murder by JDU MLC Manorama Devi's son Rocky but many concede that such sons and daughters are a problem for the state.

"These children are born with a golden spoon in their mouth," said a former JDU minister. "Politicians like Lalu have struggled and risen from among the masses to the position they are in today. They will never behave in such an arrogant manner or like a criminal. But their children have got everything without any effort. So, they assume everybody will do their bidding, succumb to their demands. Once they face resistance, they behave arrogantly and take the law in their own hands."

BJP national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain on Monday held the chief minister responsible for Aditya's murder.

"The fear of the government and law is not present among the legislators of the Grand Alliance," said Shahnawaz in Patna on his way to Bhagalpur. "Nitish has lost control over them. That is the reason so many crimes involving ruling party MLAs have occurred."

Shahnawaz, a former Union minister, suggested Nitish to first put his house in order rather than visit other states to preach prohibition.

"Why is Nitish not speaking on anything except prohibition? Who is responsible for law and order in the state? Who will control crime? As far as I can recall, this road rage murder is the first of its kind incident in Bihar," he added.