Patna, Aug. 13: Criminals appear to be having a free run in the state if the recent spate of crimes and manner in which these was carried out are any indicator.
Last night, a boy was beaten to death and his father and brother were brutally assaulted under the jurisdiction of Naugachia police district in Bhagalpur, around 250km east of Patna. A couple of hours later, armed men gunned down the 25-year-old son of a JDU leader in Muzaffarpur, 80km north of Patna, triggering protests today. Another trader was murdered in Katihar near Indo-Nepal border today.
Earlier, on Tuesday, a man was killed in Nalanda when he offered resistance to eve-teasers. And only a week ago, a BJP worker was murdered in one of Patna's busiest localities while returning home after dropping his daughter at a school near Gandhi Maidan.
"The deteriorating law and order condition has forced people not to venture out at night. The way criminals fired upon and pumped three bullets into a BJP worker after a hot chase in the capital reminds one of yesteryears," Sheohar resident Ravi Shankar Kumar said. He, however, admitted the situation in urban areas was not as bad as in rural areas, where youths can be spotted roaming around freely with country-made pistols. A teacher by profession, Ravi said: "If the trend continues, the day is not far off when people will start coming out on the streets to protest the law and order condition."
Pandav Paswan of Naugachia was beaten to death while his father and brother were assaulted at Abhaiya village in Bhagalpur. Some strongmen are believed to have committed the crime, as the family had refused to withdraw a case against one of them for involvement in the elopement of a girl from Paswan's family.
The murdered boy's father, Abdesh Paswan, admitted at JLNMC, Bhagalpur, said: "Around 9.30pm last night, around 21-22 people armed with weapons and fire arms from Mandal tola raided Mahadalit tola and created havoc. They beat up my son to death and mercilessly attacked my physically handicapped son Ajit Paswan (16) and me."
Paswan said the men had even kidnapped his other son, Gulshan (17). Later, residents recovered him from a nearby banana field. "Four months ago, one Sunil Mandal had eloped with the minor daughter of my cousin," said Abdesh. "The village panchayat tried to broker peace after the girl returned around two months later. But since then, the opponents were issuing us threats, asking us to withdraw the case," he said.
Bhagalpur zone inspector-general (IG) B.S. Meena told The Telegraph that he had instructed Naugachia superintendent of police (SP) Pankaj Sinha to take all preventive measures and immediately arrest those involved in the incident. "Naugachia police have arrested eight persons so far and raids are on to nab the other accused," he said.
In Muzaffarpur, a 25-year-old youth identified as Sarfaraz, alias Prince, was killed near Pankaj Market at Saraiyaganj under the jurisdiction of Town police station late on Wednesday. Family sources said three persons called him near the spot and pumped two bullets into him, killing him. Later, his body was dumped near a school at Sikandarpur, about .5km from the site. In the morning, Prince's relatives set the suspect's house on fire, blocked the road and disrupted traffic after placing his body in the middle of the road. They also forced shopkeepers to down shutters.
Muzaffarpur district magistrate (DM) Dharmendra Singh and senior SP Ranjit Mishra rushed to the spot and promised the protesters that the culprits would be booked at the earliest. SSP Mishra said two suspects have been detained for interrogation. Additional forces were deployed and patrolling intensified.
"Criminals are being nabbed and charge-sheets being filed. We can't do much if someone gets relief in court," ADG (law & order) Alok Raj said.
