Ahead of the impending assembly polls, the rising crime graph and poor law and order situation have led to demands being revived to adopt UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'bulldozer' and police encounter policy in Bihar to deal with criminals.
Three killings over 24 hours -- of a businessman and his cousin, and a youth -- in two separate incidents in Chhapra in Bihar has triggered angry protests apart from putting the spotlight on the deteriorating law and situation in a state that is months away from crucial assembly elections.
Amrendar Kumar Singh, owner of a Godrej showroom, and his cousin Sambhu Singh, a trader-cum- contractor, were shot dead in Prabhunath Nagar under the Mufassil police station by motorcycle-borne killers late evening on Tuesday.
In another incident, 22-year-old Mohammad Salman, an e-autorickshaw driver, was stabbed to death on Wednesday.
"Criminals shot dead Amrendar Singh and his cousin when he was about to leave after shutting the showroom. The criminals fled before locals could gather," said Assistant Superintendent of Police Raj Kishor Singh.
Amrendar Singh had unsuccessfully contested elections for the mayor's post in the Chhapra municipal corporation; he and his cousin Sambhu Singh were considered close to the Bharatiya Janata Party's Saran MP and former Union minister Rajeev Pratap Rudy.
Angry over the killings, hundreds of people staged a protest near Chhapra Superintendent of Police Kumar Ashish's official residence; the SP reportedly assured them that the killers will be arrested soon.
"Protestors gheraoed the SP's residence for hours, shouted slogans and demanded an encounter of the criminals, not only their arrest," said a district police official.
Bhagwan Bazaar police station in-charge Subhash Kumar Singh said the police have raided several places to arrest the accused.
It is not like these killings were one-off incidents. Only four days ago, three people were shot dead and two seriously injured in Buxar district in a dispute over sand dumping.
Last week criminals in Patna shot dead five people in 24 hours.
Over the last few days, criminals opened fire at different places in Patna and shot at and injured two businessmen.
These incidents have raised questions over the deteriorating law and order in the state.
Ahead of the impending assembly polls, the rising crime graph and poor law and order situation have led to demands being revived to adopt Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'bulldozer' and police encounter policy in Bihar to deal with criminals.
It is seen as a big embarrassment for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has repeatedly made claims of 'sushasan aur kanoon ka raj (good governance and rule of law)'.
Bihar Minister Neeraj Kumar Singh, a senior BJP leader, on Wednesday said the bulldozer and encounters are only options to deal with rising crimes in the state.
"The police have to encounter criminals and use bulldozer action against criminals like in Uttar Pradesh," he said.
In the last six months, traders, businessmen, contractors and company officials have been targeted by criminals.
Bank robberies and looting jewellery shops, including the recent one at the Tanishq showroom in Ara town, have become common occurences.
A few months ago, Tejashwi Yadav. leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly, stated that as per the National Crime Records Bureau, 60,000 murders and 25,000 rapes took place in Bihar during Nitish Kumar's nearly 20-year rule.
The rule of law has been Nitish Kumar's primary political plank since he came to power in November 2005.
He has consistently blamed Rashtriya Janata Dal founder Lalu Yadav for 'jungle raj' during his and wife Rabri Devi's chief ministerial tenures from 1990 to 2005.
Today, however, it seems the shoe is on the other foot.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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