BJP's "Jungle-Raj" Swipe At Nitish Kumar After Priest Shot Dead In Bihar

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) condemned the gruesome killing of the man in Gopalganj and slammed the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's government asserting that it is not "Nitish-raj but Jungle-raj in Bihar".

The man has been identified as Manoj Kumar and was reportedly missing since Monday night and his body was found on Saturday evening from the bushes in Bihar's Gopalganj.

Reacting to the gruesome murder, BJP's spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla attacked the INDIA bloc saying that INDI means danger for sadhus and pujaris.

"Today there is no Nitish-raj in Bihar it is jungle raj in the state. The manner in which Gopalganj ISIS-style execution took taken place of a 32-year-old Pujari (priest) he was shot dead, was then subjected to brutal torture, his eyes were gouged out, and his private parts were damaged. This shows the kind of uncivil and unsafe environment that has now purportedly across the entire Bihar,"

He further said the criminal elements in Bihar, the mafia in the Bihar feel that it is their "sarkar" (government) and therefore it is a free run for them.

"Policemen are not safe as the mafia kills them. Sadhu and Saints are not safe. Female and young people are not safe in Bihar. This is the condition of law and order in Bihar. Nitish Kumar ji please answer, what is the pressure on you to allow you to this happen," he added.

Poonawalla said that this is a model we have seen in Congress run Rajasthan, MVA-run government and now Bihar.

"The similar pattern we saw in Rajasthan and when the MVA government was in Maharashtra also. When the INDI alliance government comes the Hindu sadhu saints are always on target. This is the vote bank politics," he added.

Meanwhile, Bihar BJP President Samrat Choudhary asserted that this government is dominated by sand, liquor and land mafia, and action needs to be taken.

"This government is dominated by sand, liquor and land mafia, action needs to be taken. No action is being taken," he added.

Furious over the killing of the man, who worked as a caretaker at Shiva Temple in Danapur, the mob pelted stones at the police.

Gopalganj Sadar Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Pranjal said everything is under control in the village and that adequate forces have been deployed to keep law and order intact.

"A young man, named Manoj Kumar Shah, working as a caretaker at the Shiv Temple in Danapur, was missing. The CCTV footage showed that he locked the temple himself and went somewhere... During the investigation, we found his body in the Danapur area," SDPO said.

"The body was sent for postmortem. The people blocked roads in protest... An FIR has been registered against some mischievous youth... Various internal issues including land issues within the family have come up... Some people have been detained... There was some stone pelting,. Action is being taken," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)