RANCHI - Ranchi, the state capital of Jharkhand is gradually turning into a crime capital as incidents like murder, indiscriminate firing, looting banks, and snatching cash have become a normal phenomenon here, say residents.

On Monday evening two bike-borne criminals fired at four places in Ranchi shooting two people to death and injuring two others in the Kokar area of Ranchi. The bike-borne criminals first spotted a bus coming from Bihar to Ranchi and shot the driver dead. After this, the criminals stopped another bus and shot that driver as well. They then stopped a truck and shot the assistant of the driver dead.

On Sunday evening, unidentified criminals shot dead All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) leader Ajit Yadav.

Earlier this month, criminals looted around Rs. 12 lakhs (Rs.1.2 million) from an employee of Shyama Automobiles on Ratu Road of Ranchi.

This year alone Ranchi has witnessed more than 60 murders and more than 15 have taken place in the heart of the city. Police have failed to crack any of the cases. Take the example of Raju Dhanuka, a coal trader who was shot dead in March this year. Dhanuka was killed at Panchawati plaza which is situated near the Ranchi range commissioner, district court and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) offices. After killing Dhanuka, the criminals escaped without any protest. When the police failed to crack the Dhanuka murder the state government last month handed over the probe to the CBI.

“The majority of the murders in Ranchi are an outcome of business rivalry or are related to property dealings. The businessmen are killed by the criminals hired outside the state. The local criminals are involved in some of the killings. Our investigations also indicate that some of the murders were executed by the criminals operating outside the state” a senior police official told IANS.

Both the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress party are concerned about the rising incidents. “The crime rate started increasing when United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was installed in the state in 2006 in the wrong way. The crime rate further went up during president’s rule. Moreover, Jharkhand governor Syed Sibte Razi is ineffective in dealing with crime,” said C.P. Singh, BJP legislator from Ranchi.

The Congress workers of Ranchi city staged a demonstration on Tuesday to protest the rising crime graph in the state.