In the third such incident in four days, an engineer was found murdered in Bihar's Vaishali district on Tuesday, triggering the opposition to proclaim the "return of jungle raj" against the Grand Alliance government.
This follows close to the heels of an incident where two engineers were shot dead in broad daylight in Darbhanga for allegedly defying extortionists' their demand for protection money.
A PTI report adds:
The body of Ankit Jha (42), with multiple injury marks, was spotted by locals in an orchard in Kashipur village within Rajapakar police station limits and police was informed. Police said that the victim was a quality engineer with Reliance IT. It was confirmed on the basis of a diary and identity card recovered from the pocket of the deceased.
The motive behind the murder, was yet to be ascertained.
Meanwhile, Lalu spoke on governance for the first time since the new Bihar government took charge and said that this was an "attempt to discredit the government".
"Some criminals have been trying to create panic so that people engaged in government works are cowed down (to pay extortion). We want senior officers like DMs and SPs to visit villages to restore confidence. It is our government. There is no reason to worry. We will provide safety and security to construction companies at work. We will also provide all possible help to the families of the Darbhanga project engineers," the RJD chief was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile the opposition party LJP's chief Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters in Delhi "Jungle Raj (lawlessness) is back in Bihar. In the run-up to assembly polls, we were saying that there will be Jungle Raj-2 in Bihar if the Nitish-Lalu combine win the elections. They (Nitish and Lalu) countered it saying it will be 'Mangal Raj' (good rule). Now people have to decide whether it is Jungle Raj or Mangal Raj."