Patna: A right to information (RTI) activist was among six persons killed in different incidents in the state on Wednesday. Police said four criminals riding on two motorbikes reached a tea stall near Inayatpur Panchayat Bhavan under the jurisdiction of Goroul police station in Vaishali district on Wednesday morning and opened fire, causing bullet injuries to Jayant Kumar and Arvind Singh.

While 24-year-old Jayant alias Happy died on way to the hospital, Arvind, 30, also called Bhudai Singh, is undergoing treatment at the Hajipur sadar hospital. The deceased identified as Jayant was known as an RTI activist in the region.

Jayant's mother Savitri Devi is a member of the Inayatpur Panchayat Committee and was also active in politics. The incident took place when both Jayant and Arvind were sitting at the tea stall adjacent to the Panchayat Bhavan. Tea stall owner Ram Karan Singh, however, survived the attack.

Agitated over the daylight incident, a group of residents blocked National Highway- 77 connecting Haipur with Muzaffarpur near Goroul and disrupted traffic. The residents were protesting the deteriorating law and order situation in the district.

The murder of the RTI activist took place within 24 hours of the killing of constable Ram Iqbal Ravidas by a gang of motorbike-borne criminals on Kutchery Road in Hajipur, the district headquarters of Vaishali. The assailants later escaped with a juvenile delinquent who was facing charges of loot and dacoity.

In Begusarai, assailants killed one Moti Rai when he was sitting on the veranda of his house located at Pipra Chowk under the jurisdiction of Ratanpura police station on Wednesday morning. Police said Moti was a witness in a murder case. The police had to face the ire of the residents when they visited the spot. They didn't allow the police to take the body for a post-mortem. However, they relented only after senior police officers assured that the assailants would be brought to book at the earliest.

The residents alleged that the police's failure to check the spiralling crime graph has sent shockwaves among residents. "The criminals are so emboldened that they can attack anybody and at any time at will. They have no fear of law," a businessman said.

A report from Araria said the police recovered bodies of two youths from a maize field on the outskirts of Kalabalua village under the jurisdiction of Raniganj police station of the district on Wednesday. One of the bodies bore burn injuries. One of the bodies was identified as that of Akhilesh Bhagat, a resident of Kalabalua village. Police said 25-year-old Akhilesh had been missing from his village since Tuesday. The identity of the second victim is yet to be ascertained.

Araria superintendent of police Dhurat Sayali Sablaram said the reason behind the double murder was yet to be ascertained. The residents blocked Raniganj-Sarsi road for a few hours and relented only after intervention by the police, she added.

In Siwan, a 35-year-old man killed his wife with a sharp-edged weapon at Bindusar Bujurg village under the jurisdiction of Mahdeva police outpost on Tuesday evening. The police said that Husna Bano's throat was slit with a sharp-edged weapon. The killer, identified as Rafayat Mansoori, used to ask for money for consuming liquor, which often led to quarrels in the family. Agitated over his wife's denial to give money, Rafayat attacked his wife with a weapon, leading to her instant death.

Police said Rafayat is absconding after the incident. Siwan superintendent of police Naveen Chandra Jha said the reason behind the murder was yet to be ascertained. The police have detained some suspects in the case, he added. Additional director-general (headquarters) SK Singhal said the police investigation was on and raids were being carried out at the suspected hideouts of the criminals. "They will not be able to evade arrest for long," he added.