Govt officer killed, buried in Bihar; Oppn slams Nitish Kumar

Criminalspatronized by the ruling dispensation are running amok and theChief Minister and his two deputies are looking onhelplessly, Yadav tweeted.BJP leader and MP Ram Kripal Yadav, whose party is analliance partner in the Nitish Kumar government, alsoexpressed concern over the incident.The fresh incident comes within a fortnight of themurder of Rupesh Kumar Singh.

A government official was killedand buried at a secluded spot along a river in Patna districtfollowing a tiff with a fertilizer vendor, drawing freshopposition criticism of the Nitish Kumar government on Mondayover law and order situation in Bihar.

Ajay Kumar (55), a resident of Kankarbagh locality ofthe city, was posted as the block agriculture officer atMasaurhi in the district, and had gone missing since January18.

His body was recovered from a pit dug close to thePunpun river in Gaurichak police station area, nearly 20kilometres from his residence, on Sunday.

According to Superintendent of Police, City, (East),the body was recovered following a ''confession'' by allegedaccused Abhinav alias Golu who was arrested on Saturday.

Family members of the deceased had lodged a complaintat the police station concerned after Ajay Kumar went missing,and also suspected that Golu, a 21-year-old, who traded infertilizers and seeds, could have plotted his disappearance.

During interrogation, Golu allegedly confessed tohaving killed the official, with whom he was locked in adispute over settlement of bills.

The SP said mobile phone records of the deceasedshowed that the last call received by him on January 18 wasfrom Golu, who said he had lured the the official intovisiting the secluded spot with the promise of helping himclinch a lucrative land deal.

Golu has been sent to jail and investigation is on toascertain if others were involved in the crime, the SP added.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who had last week met theGovernor with a memorandum alleging a marked deterioration inlaw and order in the state, came out with an angry tweet.

''Ajay Kumar, an agriculture department officialemployed with Bihar government, got kidnapped and the policewent to sleep. Now his body has been recovered. Criminalspatronized by the ruling dispensation are running amok and theChief Minister and his two deputies are looking onhelplessly, Yadav tweeted.

BJP leader and MP Ram Kripal Yadav, whose party is analliance partner in the Nitish Kumar government, alsoexpressed concern over the incident.

''The fresh incident comes within a fortnight of themurder of Rupesh Kumar Singh. There should be a check on crimeso that the people's confidence in the government does notsag,'' he said.

Singh, who was a senior official here with a privateairlines, was gunned down outside his residence in Punaichaklocality on January 12, barely a kilometre away from thecity's landmarks like the chief minister's residence and RajBhavan. His killers are yet to be apprehended.