Bihar government set up cell to maintain data bank of Supari killers

The Hindu

16-07-2025

Learning a lesson from the murder of industrialist Gopal Khemka by giving Supari (contract) to criminal, Bihar Police's Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) decided to set up a 'cell' to maintain a data bank of the contract killers operating in the state.
Talking to reporters at police headquarters in Patna, Additional Director General (ADG) (Headquarters) Kundan Krishnan said that it has been witnessed that some of the youths have been found indulging in contract killers for money.
'A new cell has been constituted to keep a tab on contract killers. A data bank of these contract killers will be maintained to check their activities in future,' Mr. Krishnan said.
He added that a 'dossier' will be prepared of each contract killer and the cell will keep their physical description, photograph, along with their name, address and other details so that their movement can be tracked even after coming out of jail.
Even police personnel in districts have been asked to keep a tab on such contract killers.
'Police have identified 1290 persons who have acquired proceeds of crime and their assets will be seized soon,'Mr. Krishnan said.
He also informed that the state police have also sent its proposal for starting Fast Track Courts (FTCs) to ensure speedy trial to achieve conviction in heinous crime cases.
Mr. Krishnan pointed out that the Narcotics Cell under STF is already functional but to strengthen it further, police are planning to set up a separate 'narcotics & prohibition division' for which a proposal will be sent to the state cabinet.
He stressed that the move would help in taming the problem of opium, heroin, smack and other psychotropic substances being used by the youths of the state.
Talking about murders that took place recently in the state, Krishnan said that the statistics does not suggest that the average crime graph has witnessed an increase.
'This is an election year and a narrative is being built through misinformation and disinformation. No one should try to demoralise the police department as it has always identified and taken action against 'black sheep's,'Mr. Krishnan said.
Meanwhile, the Bihar Police also suspended a station house officer (SHO) for dereliction of duty in connection with the murder of Patna based industrialist Gopal Khemka.
The order of suspension of Gandhi Maidan Police Station SHO Rajesh Kumar was issued by Patna Inspector General (IG) Jitendra Rana.
Mr. Khemka was murdered on July 4 night outside his house under the jurisdiction of Gandhi Maidan police station which was 300 meters from the spot. Earlier relatives and family members of Mr. Khemka had alleged that the police had reached the spot after one and half hours of the incident after the shooter fled.
'When the incident took place, I had given the order to investigate the role of the local police and in the investigation the Patna SSP found that Gandhi Maidan SHO did not perform his duty. If there would be any more officers involved, action would be taken accordingly,' Mr. Rana said while speaking to the media.
In the case, police have already arrested the shooter Umesh Yadav and mastermind Ashok Sao who had given the Supuri (contract) of Rs 4 lakh to kill the industrialist who was also earlier associated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).