Patna: At least five murders and a cash loot were reported from across the state during the last 24 hours, including an incident in Ara where a man was shot dead in his house when his wife was preparing tea for two strangers who had come home early morning, but the state police brass denied that the crime graph was spiralling out of control.
According to sources in the state police headquarters, Santosh Kumar (35), owner of a cyber café, was shot dead in his house in Mathia locality of Ara town, about 54km west of Patna, around 5am on Wednesday. The men gave some cooked-up story to gain entry into the house and pumped two bullets into Santosh.
The deceased's father Shaym Narayan Singh, a retired teacher, told the police that as the two men were busy in conversation with Santosh, Santosh's wife went to the kitchen to make tea for the "guests". She rushed to the room on hearing the gunshots and found her husband in a pool of blood. He was rushed to the sadar hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Eight hours before that, two criminals shot dead a jeweller on Ashok Rajpath under the jurisdiction of Khajekalan police station in Patna City. Ajij alias Rocky was killed when he was returning home after closing his shop. His brother Vicky told to the police that the incident occurred around 9pm in the Bakshi locality.
"This is the second incident of murder of a jeweller in Khajekalan police station area of Patna City in the last 24 hours," said Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Alamganj in Patna City. "Earlier, another jewellery shop owner Ritesh Sinar was killed by unidentified miscreants."
Rakesh, who deals in spices, said that the two murders within 24 hours have sent shockwaves in the area.
Around 10pm on Tuesday, a 35-year-old woman was riddled with bullets when she was returning home after closing her shop in Gaya town. Radha Kumari was attacked when she was on way to her home on her two-wheeler from the shop. Two motorbike-borne assailants fired at her from close range near Jheelganj under Gaya Town police station, around 97km south of Patna.
Gaya city superintendent of police (SP) Anil Kumar said that prima facie it appeared to be a case of business rivalry.
"Radha was running a shop dealing in toys in the Gunny market of the town. She was staying with her sister and brother's wife," he said, adding that raids were underway to nab the assailants with the help of video clips gathered from the CCTV cameras installed in the locality.
In Siwan, around 137km northwest of Patna, a young contractor identified as Mohammad Munna Ansari was killed at Jugua Jalalpur village under the jurisdiction of MH Nagar police station of the district on Tuesday evening. The deceased's relatives said that he was fired upon by two criminals on a motorbike who escaped after shooting him dead on a busy road.
In Saran district, around 75km northwest of Patna, two persons were shot at and critically injured on Tuesday when a group of armed robbers looted Rs 5 lakh from the customer service centre of a bank located at Sahjitpur village. One of the injured, identified as Dhirendra Manjhi, who was deputed as a security guard, died in hospital. The other victim, identified as Vivek Singh, is undergoing treatment at the Chhapra sadar hospital.
Saran SP Har Kishore Rai said one person has been detained for interrogation in the case.
The body of Dhirendra Majhi was handed over to the family after post mortem on Wednesday.
"We have formed a special investigation team to probe the incident," the SP said, adding that the police have collected vital clues.
Additional director general of police S.K. Singhal, however, claimed that the law and order situation in the state was well under control and cited crime figures to substantiate his claim. "We are not denying that crime incidents are taking place," he said. "But at the same time it's true that action is being taken against the offenders."
