Bihar contractor set ablaze for refusing to pay bribe

Patna: The Nitish Kumar-led NDA government, facing attacks over rising crime graph, was in for another setback when a contractor was allegedly burnt to death for refusing to pay bribe in Bihar’s Gopalganj district.

The incident occurred on Thursday evening when the contractor Rama Shankar Singh had gone to meet the chief engineer of Water resource department (WRD) at his official residence. Sources claim that he died due to severe burn injuries while he was being rushed to the hospital for treatment.

The police registered an FIR on the basis of a complaint filed by the deceased son Rana Pratap Singh. Speaking to reporters he said that, “Whenever he (the contractor) asked for the settlement of dues, chief engineer Murlidhar Singh demanded a bribe of '15 lakh from him which he refused”.

Sources claim that the victim had received a phone call from the executive engineer of the department who escorted him to the chief engineer’s residence. The house, where the incident occurred, was later sealed by the police in the presence of a magistrate.

The FSL team also visited the spot and recovered half-burnt bed and used clothes from the room where the incident took place. However, according to officials, there is no clarity on how the contractor was set on fire and the matter is being investigated from all angles.

“The police is investigating the matter from all angles. It’s too early to say anything about the case at the moment. FIR has been registered and manhunt has been launched to nab the accused”, Gopalganj SP Rashid Zaman told this newspaper.

District magistrate Animesh Parashar also said that “strict action will be taken against all those who have been behind the incident”.

Meanwhile, the Opposition parties in Bihar have started blaming the state government for its failure in maintaining law and order. The Opposition parties especially the RJD who has been hinting at using law and order as an agenda in the 2020 Assembly elections termed the scenario as “Maha jungle raj” and said that “Nitish Kumar’s governance policy has failed.

There is an atmosphere of fear in the state. Crime graph in the state has gone up in the last couple of years”.