Nitish orders Police to ensure law and order

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday directed top police officials to curb crime in the state at all cost. According to the senior officials, Kumar also directed the state police to take stern against the organised criminals.

The chief minister on Monday held a review meeting of Home Department with the top police and administrative officials and made it clear that criminal activities would not be tolerated. "Nitish Kumar questioned Bihar DGP P K Thakur and other top officials about the spurt in crime and the failure of the police to arrest the criminals behind such crimes during the meeting. He was upset about the recent increase in the criminal activities and asked officials to take stern action against the anti-social elements," said a senior official, who was present in the meeting.

According to the officials close to Kumar, he was upset over the reports of growing crime, including killing of two engineers in Darbhanga district last Saturday. He spoke for more than one and half hours. "The crux of his speech was to control criminal activities at all cost and for this he said every assistance will be given to the police officials. He asked officials to not to be influenced by anyone. The Chief Minister also directed the officials to take action against organised gang of criminals and take necessary measures for it," said the official.

Meanwhile, the state government has ordered all the district administrations and police officials to provide ample security cover to the officials and workers of the construction companies, which are engaged in the several projects in the state. The state government has ordered the local administration to provided armed security cover to such people at the work site. "We can't allow criminals to challenge the authority of the state. Those responsible will not be spared. They will be caught and will be put behind the bars," said the officials.

Last week, two men on motorcycles attacked the engineers of a private road construction company in Dharbhanga district, while they were supervising the road construction. Police suspects that they were killed for refusing to pay the extortion to a local criminal. The company had sought protection from police for the engineers after receiving the demand for "Rangdari" or extortion. Some policemen were deputed to stand guard at the construction site. However, they were removed from the post on Friday and were not present when the attack took place. One SHO was suspended on Saturday and the probe was handed over to the state's Special Task Force.

On the other hand, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has targeted Nitish Kumar over the deteriorating law and order situation and termed it an example of return of "jungle raj" in Bihar.