The Nitish-Kumar led Bihar government is a coaltion of his JD(U) and Lalu Yadav's RJD. (File photo)
Three engineers have been murdered in Bihar in less than a week. While one body was found in Vaishali district on Monday, two others were shot dead in Darbanga last week.
The body of Ankit Jha, 42, with multiple injury marks, was spotted by locals in an orchard in Kashipur village. Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kumar said the victim was a quality engineer with Reliance IT. His identity was confirmed on the basis of a diary and identity card recovered from the pocket of the deceased, the police said, adding the motive of murder could not be ascertained.
The incident follows the gunning down of two engineers, Brajesh Kumar and Mukesh Kumar, who worked at a private road construction company. They were shot dead by motorcycle-borne attackers on Saturday on Darbhanga-Kusheshwarsthan state highway, after they reportedly defied extortion demands of the criminal gang.
Rashtriya Janata Dal of RJD chief Lalu Yadav, whose party bagged the maximum seats in the recent assembly elections, says that this is an attempt to disregard the JD(U)-RJD coalition government led by Nitish Kumar.
"Those who had challenged law and order during my rule are doing it all over again," said Mr Yadav, after the Opposition accused him of bringing back "Jungle Raj" (lawlessness) in Bihar.
"It is our government in Bihar... I appeal to the police to make Bihar crime-free by taking stringent action against criminals and anti-social elements who are out to bring disrepute to the state government," he said.
He condemned the killing of the engineers and asked the state government and their employers to take care of the families of the deceased.
The RJD chief said the extortionists apparently wanted to send a message to other construction companies through these killings to make them cough up money.