Darbhanga engineers’ killing: Police arrest kin of extortion gang ‘kingpin’

Darbhanga DIG Umashankar Sudhanshu said they have arrested Pintu Lal Dev, brother-in-law of Santosh’s sister Munni Devi, who is the Bahedi block pramukh. The police have also questioned Munni Devi, her husband Sanjay Lal Dev and some other relatives of Santosh.

Engineers Mukesh Kumar and Brajesh Kumar, who were working on the 120-km stretch of State Highway 88 (Begusarai-Darbhanga) project of BSc C&C, were shot Saturday afternoon by unidentified motorcycle-borne men at Gangdah in Darbhanga.

Police suspect the involvement of Santosh who, though in jail, allegedly runs a syndicate with the help of his key aides Mukesh Pathak and Vikas Jha.

The STF team, which has visited the crime scene and conducted raids, said Santosh was once linked to Maoists and his brother-in-law Sanjay Lal Dev is a surrendered Maoist. The STF has a list of 25 people who are allegedly on Santosh’s payroll and are paid a fixed salary. The syndicate has reportedly hired six sharp shooters.

An STF official said: “The criminals generally target senior officials working on a project to terrorise people and get attention. Jha’s local network also updates them on police patrolling. Primary investigation suggests that an extortion call of Rs 1 crore was made.”

The road project, over 50 per cent complete, is worth Rs 700 crore. The construction company, which entered Bihar seven years ago with an NH-30 project along the Patna-Bakhtiyarpur stretch, later got involved with state highway projects and now has over a dozen projects under its belt in the state.

IG (Operations) S M Khopde said: “Police from three districts are conducting raids along with STF. We are getting vital leads and have narrowed down suspects.”

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday conducted a review of the law and order situation and emphasised safety of officials and workers engaged in government projects.