The ghosts of “jungle raj” appear to have returned to haunt Nitish Kumar, the man who originally coined the term to topple Lalu Prasad from power in 2005, and who has been chief minister of Bihar since, barring a self-imposed break.

Five gun-toting men walked nonchalantly into a private hospital room this morning, under the glare of CCTV cameras, shot dead a patient, himself a notorious criminal, and made their getaway unchallenged.

The shooters made a chilling scene on CCTV footage, right out of a gangster movie. Their act was no less shocking for having been staged in Paras Hospital, a private facility in a posh part of Patna.

The police have identified all the accused and arrested one. Raids are being conducted to arrest the remaining accused.

The unbroken slew of audacious killings has not just left the state in shock but also prompted NDA allies like Chirag Paswan to remark publicly on the deterioration of law and order under Nitish.

Grabs from a CCTV camera footage show five armed men entering the hospital, casually walking to the patient’s room and leaving after purportedly shooting the person in the room Sourced by The Telegraph

Although Chirag, Union minister for food processing, did not name Nitish, he said in a post on X: “Law and order in Bihar has become a serious concern today. Murders are happening every day, and the morale of criminals is sky-high. The functioning of the police and administration is beyond comprehension.”

Chirag’s post came just before he met the BJP president, J.P. Nadda.

Chandan Mishra, the assassinated patient, faced charges of dozens of murders and was on parole for medical reasons, with the police responsible for his security.

His was the latest in a series of murders — the victims including businessmen and a BJP farmer leader — that have turned the spotlight on the crumbling law and order under Nitish in the run-up to the polls, due in November.

Patna alone has witnessed 13 murders, including that of prominent businessman Gopal Khemka, over the past fortnight.

On becoming chief minister in 2005, about the first thing Nitish had announced was his intent to end the “jungle raj” and establish the rule of law in Bihar. He had told his council of ministers and top officers that political patronage of crime was a thing of the past.

“Criminals ki pahunch mukhya mantri ke niwas tak ho gayi hai, lekin yeh band hona padega,” he had announced at one of his early meetings, alleging the criminals’ reach had extended to the chief minister’s residence.

“Message jaana chahiye prashasan ke taraf se ki apradh ko naa to sarkar se kisi prakar ka sanrakshan milega naa hi apradh karne ka fayada kisi ko milega.” (The message should go out that not only will crime not get any political protection, it will not pay to be a criminal. Crime will no longer pay.)

On Thursday, the videos of the assassination emerged just hours after Nitish had tweeted his latest poll sop of free electricity, reflecting his desperation as the administration seemed to be slipping out of his control.

While Nitish has remained silent on the serial murders, leaders of the ruling NDA, particularly the Janata Dal United and the BJP, have tried to underplay the crime spree by blaming “personal rivalry”.

The chief minister’s JDU colleague and Union fisheries minister Rajiv Ranjan aka Lalan Singh said: “Incidents can happen because of disputes in any country.”

A senior police officer had gone a step further on Wednesday and blamed unemployed farmers for the spurt in crime.

“Recently, a lot of murders have happened in the whole of Bihar. Most murders happen in the months of April, May and June. This continues until the rains come, as most farmers do not have work (till then),” additional director-general of police Kundan Kishnan told reportersin Patna.

“After the rains, people in the farming community get busy and theincidents reduce.”

The Patna killings have mostly taken place in July.

Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav has hurled back the “jungle raj” epithet at the NDA but spared Nitish personally, perhaps keeping in mind the fault lines in the ruling coalition. Instead, he has targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The Prime Minister is the leader of the entire country. When he comes here to ask for votes, it is also his responsibility to ensure the nation’s security,” Tejashwi, leading the RJD now, told reporters.

“He (Modi) comes here and screams that ‘jungle raj’ will return (if the RJD comes back to power). But ‘jungle raj’ has already arrived….”

Modi is scheduled to visit Bihar on Friday to inaugurate or lay foundations for development projects in Motihari.

“These people have gone blind. The so-called ‘double engine’ means one engine for corruption and the other for crime,” Tejashwi said, tactfully confining his attack to the BJP to try and win over the non-Yadav OBC supporters of the JDU.

Amid worries over the mental health of Nitish, who has increasingly shown signs of forgetfulness, the BJP has declared that he would lead the alliance in the elections. The dominant narrative in Patna is, however, that the BJP would claim the chief minister’s post if the NDA returns to power.

Nitish, announcing his latest freebie, posted: “We have been providing electricity at a cheaper rate since the start. We have now decided that from August 1, 2025, that is, from the July bill itself, no domestic consumer in the state will have to pay any money for electricity up to 125 units.”

Last month, his government had announced a near-threefold hike in the monthly pension for the elderly, disabled and widows. Nitish had followed this up by announcing that the 35 per cent reservation given to women in government jobs would now be restricted to Bihar natives.

BJP social media head Amit Malviya celebrated the free electricity announcement as a “big move”. “Now, the people of Bihar will not have to pay any bill for up to 125 units of electricity — meaning zero electricity bills!” he postedon X.

“This is the difference between the good governance of the NDA and the ‘jungle raj’ of the RJD.” He did not mention the killings.