Patna: Three people active in politics and affiliated to different political parties were gunned down during the last three days in Bihar which has set the alarm bells ringing at the police headquarters.
The worst among them was the murder of ex-Muzaffarpur Mayor Samir Kumar and his driver on Sunday evening when two motorcycle-borne criminals opened fire on their car with sophisticated AK-47.
Hours before Samir's murder, a BJP worker Sunil Kumar was shot dead in the neighbouring Samastipur district.
On Friday, Tabrej Alam, alias Firoz, was gunned down near Kotwali police station area in the heart of capital Patna. He once claimed his association with the Samajwadi Party and contested on its ticket from Jehanabad. Tabrej had also worked for Siwan strongman turned politician Mohammad Shahabuddin as his sharp shooter.
The method used by the assailants in all three cases was reminiscent of the so-called dark days Bihar witnessed in the 90s when the use of automatic weapons for revenge killing had become a normal thing.
In fact, the killing of the former mayor was identical in the way Bhumihar strongman Chhotan Shukla was murdered on the evening of December 4, 1994. He was attacked by bike-borne assailants who used AK-47 and sprayed bullets on Shukla’s ambassador car.
Recently some assault rifles were seized in Munger which had been smuggled from Madhya Pradesh and the involvement of an ordnance factory was also suspected. In most of the recent high profile murders in Bihar, AK-47 was used.
While Muzaffarpur observed bandh on Monday, all the opposition parties strongly condemned the “governance” of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Leading the charge against the Nitish Kumar government was the leader of opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, who questioned the silence of the Chief Minister over 'deteriorating' law and order situation.
"AK-47 has become a commonly used weapon due to failure of Nitish Kumar. Now criminals have more AK-47s than the police in Bihar", Tejashwi tweeted.
मैं अपराधियों से निवेदन करता हूँ कि पितृपक्ष के दिनों मे कोई वारदात ना करें:-सुशील मोदी, उपमुख्यमंत्री,बिहारख़ुलासा और दिलासा मास्टर की कुख्यात जोड़ी डर के मारे कुछ दिनो में अपराधियो के पैर भी पकड़े तो अचम्भित नहीं होना।क्योंकि बिहार पुलिस से ज़्यादा AK-47 अपराधियों के पास है— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) September 24, 2018
मुजफ्फरपुर में पूर्व मेयर को दिन-दहाड़े AK-47 से मार दिया गया। नीतीश जी की नाकामियों से बिहार में AK-47 आम हथियार हो गया है।* समस्तीपुर में बिजनेसमैन की हत्या* पटना में व्यवसायी की हत्या* मोतिहारी में छात्र की हत्याDouble Engine Govt = 300 Times Increased Murders & Crime— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) September 24, 2018
Countering the opposition charge, CM Nitish Kumar denied spike in criminal incidents and instead lauded the police top brass for helping in reducing criminal activities.
"When I assumed office in 2005, there were obsolete firearms with the police and sophisticated AK-47 with criminals but the scenario changed after persistent effort by the government and the state police headquarters
"The first priority of the government is to maintain law and order and police have to play the vital role in this. One of the reasons of the crimes across the state is land dispute. you have to see what kind of role police play in such disputes? If police play active role in resolving land disputes then it will be helpful in maintaining peace in the state," he said.
Inaugurating Dial 100 facility in Patna, the CM said attack on police by sand and liquor mafia was worrisome and exhorted the police force to take stern action which can instil fear of law among unscrupulous elements.
Though the police have not been able to identify the assailants, Muzaffarpur Senior Superintendent of Police Harpreet Kaur told News18 that a property dispute was perhaps the reason. "The murder could be due to a property dispute. Further investigations are on," Kaur said.
Rattled by these broad daylight shootouts by criminals, the top brass of Bihar police hustled up at Patna headquarters on Monday led by Director General of Police KS Dwivedi and joined by ADGs and IGs on video conferencing. They discussed the ways to tackle the rising crime graph in the state.
ADG SK Singhal told News18 that a report on Muzaffarpur killings have been sought from the district police.