Darbhanga, July 30: In a span of 45 hours, the police have nabbed three criminals involved in the loot and murder incident at a petrol pump on Wednesday. The fourth criminal, Nityanand Jha, is absconding.

A special team was formed to nab the criminals who had looted Soni Fuel petrol pump and shot three persons dead at Nehra village under Manigachi police station.

The team arrested three persons on Friday night who have confessed to their crime. The government announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to the team for busting the gang. Director-general of police Neel Mani announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for an anonymous person who tipped off the police leading to the arrests .

The three criminals have been identified as Kamlesh Jha, Rahul Yadav and Papu Bihari. Except Nityanand, a resident of Manigachi in Darbhanga, all three criminals had been involved in crimes and had been arrested earlier.

Inspector-general of police R.K. Mishra said: “The police have solved the case within 45 hours. They used all resources and nabbed three persons involved in the murder and loot. The sketch prepared by the forensic science laboratory was found to be 70 per cent similar to one of those arrested.”

He added: “These criminals have also been involved in two other crimes of loot and murder. One has not been arrested as yet. We are investigating the motive behind the murder after the loot.”

The team was formed on the directive of the deputy inspector-general of police, Darbhanga range, N.H. Khan.