Nitish Kumar warns cops after extortion killings

While the Opposition mounted an attack on the state government calling the gruesome killing of two engineers in Darbhanga district as “a preface to the return of jungle raj”, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar chaired a review meeting of the home department sternly asking the police to “either perform or face action”.

Sources said the chief minister was so peeved by the incident and growing restlessness among the business class of the state that he even asked few senior police officials to leave the meeting hall. The chief minister later directed the police department to constitute a special investigative team and hand over the case to special task force (STF).

“I want results, do whatever you can to control the rising crime in Bihar,” Mr Kumar said this during the review meeting in Patna on Monday.

Sources added that the chief minister also asked senior officials to explain why security was removed from the spot a day before the incident occurred. They said, “Many more heads are likely to roll after the investigation.”

The STF, meanwhile, on Monday arrested one Pintu Lalchand and is also likely to detain Munni Devi, the chairperson of Baheri block in Darbhanga district, for questioning. Polices sources said Pintu Lalchand and Munni Devi are close relatives of Santosh Jha, who is suspected to be behind the murder of two engineers. Jha is currently lodged in jail in connection with several murder cases.

Earlier on Sunday, a police official was suspended after workers of the construction company refused to return to work following the killing of two engineers raising questions of security. A senior official of the construction company said, “Returning to work after the killing of our engineers is like working under the shadow of guns. Our workers out of fear have refused to resume work.”

Perturbed by the rising crime level in the state, the chief minister on Monday asked the officials to provide security to companies involved in road construction in the state. The decision, according to an insider, was taken after several companies indicated that they would wind up ongoing work and return, citing threat to their lives.