The killing of two engineers of a leading road construction company engaged by the Bihar government in a Darbhanga village appears to have been carried out by a criminal gang, police said on Sunday. Brajesh Kumar (30) and Mukesh Kumar (40), who worked for BSc C & C firm, were monitoring work on a stretch of road at Gandah village under Bahedi police station when four motorcyles-borne assailants shot them dead around 12.45 pm on Saturday and drove away. Police said the assailants used AK-47 rifles. As the killing led to strong reactions in Patna — with the BJP targeting the Nitish Kumar government — the state police got its Special Task Force to assist the local police in the case. Police suspect the involvement of the dreaded Santosh Jha gang, which operates under the name of “Bihar People’s Liberation Army” and is learnt to be involved in several cases of extortion, in the killing. Bihar DGP P K Thakur said: “It is not an act of Maoists but of a professional criminal gang. We have been questioning some people and may get vital leads soon.” BSc C & C has been engaged by the state government for several road projects — including a 120-km stretch of State Highway-88 between Begusarai and Darbhanga — in which the two slain engineers were working. Following the killing, work has stopped on the stretch, with employees demanding security cover. The police have recovered a hand-written pamphlet from the site, reading “Mukesh Pathak Zindabad. tum jahan jahan jaoge, humein wahan wahan paoge (wherever you go, you will find us).” Mukesh Pathak is a key member of the Santosh Jha gang. Jha, wanted in several cases of extortion and murder, is currently lodged in Gaya jail. This is the second suspected attack by the gang after formation of the Grand Alliance government. On December 7, a supervisor with Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran Yojana was shot dead at Sheohar. In the latest case, although police have not named anyone in the FIR, they have questioned about half-a-dozen people, including some relatives of the jailed gangster who live in Gangdah village. On Sunday, the government suspended police station in-charge of Baheda, Ramashankar Singh, who had ordered removal of three Bihar Military Police personnel from the construction company’s base camp at Jhorsu, about 10 km from the spot, just a day before the killing. The company had got the security cover after complaints of threats. Although the firm had not made a formal complaint regarding any extortion demand, police sources alleged that it had received a Rs 1-crore extortion demand from Mukesh Pathak. They said Pathak had also reportedly threatened a leading company working under the Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran Yojana in North Bihar. A senior police officer investigating the case said: “The modus operandi clearly suggests involvement of Mukesh Pathak from Santosh Jha gang, which generally employs youths in their 20s.” Gandah-Shivram panchayat mukhiya A K Yadav said: “We held a protest today against the lackadaisical approach of the administration. We are in a state of shock and want the government to catch the culprits. We want our roads constructed. After all, we voted for Nitish Kumar to ensure good law and order condition.” Devendra Yadav, another villager, said: “If Nitish Kumar cannot provide us security, he would lose our confidence.” He said children at a nearby school, who heard the gunfire during their midday meal break, were in a state of shock. While engineer Brajesh was a resident of Dehri-on-Sone in Rohtas, his colleague Mukesh was from Begusarai and was working as a consultant. Brajesh had returned to duty on Friday after celebrating the second birthday of his daughter Divya. He had been working with the construction company for the past four years.
