Criminal cases have been piling up on police in the city and its suburbs, with breakthroughs becoming a rarity.

The men-in-uniform were baffled on Thursday morning after residents of Ram Nagar Diara area spotted three bodies of men aged between 30 and 35 years. Each had been shot at least thrice from close range, said the personnel of the local Athmalgola police station of Patna rural. None of the three could be identified till reports last came in.

“No one has come to claim the bodies till now. The men were shot dead from point-blank range. We have found an abandoned SUV from the same area. We suspect that the trio were murdered elsewhere and their bodies were brought to this place by the SUV before being dumped. The plan could have been to throw the bodies into the Ganga that flows close to the diara. However, some noises alerted residents of local settlements because of which the plan was aborted. Each of the men was shot at least thrice, which proves the motive was murder,” said an officer at Athmalgola police station.

The police said some residents heard a vehicle coming and stopping in the area. “Athmalgola has many dhabas and people say a fight could have broken out in one of them among people over money. However, we are yet to identify the dhaba where the fight took place. With the SUV abandoned, we are sure that the men were murdered elsewhere and the bodies dumped here. The bodies would be sent for post-mortem. Probe is on,” said the officer.

Earlier too, the state capital saw several crimes but the police could not solve most of the cases.

On June 28 this year, 20-year-old Rahul Kumar, a resident of Daulatpur under the jurisdiction of Gaurichak police station, was beaten up before being shot dead and eyes gouged out by six people barely half-a-kilometre away from his household.

On June 14 this year, an 11-year-old boy was beheaded by two men in Badi Pahari under the jurisdiction of Agamkuan police station.

In early-June, a businessman was chased and shot dead by men underneath Mahatma Gandhi Setu.

“There are some cases which remain unsolved. But the police are trying to solve them,” said a police officer.

Sixteen-year-old Ved Prakash, an Intermediate student, disappeared mysteriously after leaving home in the Kurji Balupar area on April 21. An FIR was lodged in the connection on May 1 after the family started getting ransom calls. On May 5, the police recovered the remains of Ved’s body from the banks of Sone near Koilwar, around 50km from Patna.

On April 20, a nurse was murdered in Munna Chak under the jurisdiction of Patrakar Nagar police station area.

On April 2, criminals looted Rs 12.5 lakh from one Purushottam Mishra and shot him dead in the same area.