30 Bullets in Hospital ICU: The Brazen Murder That Exposed Bihar's Crime Crisis

A deeply disturbing incident recently occurred at one of Patna’s most well-known hospitals—an incident so brazen it shocked even a state long familiar with crime. Inside the intensive care unit (ICU) of a facility deemed secure enough for treatment of the Governor and Chief Minister, five armed men walked into a patient’s room and fired thirty rounds into him as he lay on his bed. The young man died instantly. The attackers then walked out of the hospital with complete ease.

The victim himself was no stranger to crime. He had been convicted in a murder case involving a businessman in Buxar and was serving a life sentence. He had been granted a 15-day parole for surgery and was undergoing treatment at the hospital. The murder occurred on 17 July—he was scheduled to return to jail the very next day.

Police investigations later revealed that both the killers and the killed hailed from western Buxar and were themselves facing criminal charges, including murder. The gunmen were also currently lodged in jail.

Buxar is a city with deep historical roots. In 1764, it was the site of the Battle of Buxar, where the East India Company defeated the forces of Mir Qasim and established its grip over Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha. During the freedom struggle, British police officers were killed and a police station torched in nearby Chausa, prompting Mahatma Gandhi to call off the Quit India Movement. The famous burning of foreign clothes also took place at the historic Buxar Fort.

Even further back in time, this region was believed to be the site of Sage Vishwamitra’s ashram, where Ram and Lakshman received their early education. It was here in these forests that the demoness Tadaka was slain.

But today, that very land is scripting a new legacy—one marred by crime. In the 1990s and the years that followed, Buxar gained notoriety for kidnapping, which became a full-fledged industry. Trains crossing Buxar after Mughalsarai would become scenes of fear and chaos. Armed criminals would loot even air-conditioned coaches, sometimes killing passengers who resisted.

During the same period, small industries in nearby Dumraon—including a textile mill—began shutting down.

Former Odisha DGP Arun Kumar Upadhyay, a native of a village in Buxar, once recounted how the kidnapping economy destroyed genuine enterprise. “Kidnapping became such a dominant business that small industries couldn’t survive alongside it,” he said. “A man from Bihia wanted to set up a rice husk oil mill. I met him once on a train from Patna to Delhi. Initially he didn’t tell me what he did. Only after we crossed Mughalsarai did he open up—he had received threats of abduction just for trying to set up a factory, so he decided to shift operations to Haryana or Rajasthan instead. Bihar grows the paddy, the husk goes to Rajasthan, and the oil comes back to Bihar.”

Mr. Upadhyay also shared a personal experience from 2008, when he visited Buxar with his wife. “It was 6 PM at the railway station. Not a single auto or taxi driver was willing to take us to the Golambar near the Ganga bridge and the SP’s residence. They feared looting or abduction after sunset. When I approached the GRP officer, he offered to join two benches at the station for me and my wife to sleep on. Only then would he arrange to drop us home.”

He recalled calling Bihar’s DGP from his mobile, asking bluntly—“What exactly is the police doing in Buxar?” The DGP contacted the local SP, Amitabh Jain, and a police inspector was sent to escort him. Even then, his hosts were scared. After 6 PM, they believed, only dacoits roam the roads. They didn’t trust even the escorting inspector—until they heard Arun Upadhyay’s voice and recognised it.

The troubles didn’t end there. On the day of his return, he was stopped at a check post and asked to pay a “tax.” When he questioned what the tax was for, the man barked back: “Can’t you read? It says rangdari tax (extortion tax) right on the gate.” Upadhyay pointed out that there’s no such legal tax, to which the man mockingly suggested he check with the SP’s residence just 50 yards away. That checkpoint, he learned, was being run with the backing of the local RJD MLA Dadan Pahalwan and the cooperation of the district SP.

That same SP, after some time, was posted as DIG in Saran, where he reportedly fixed an ₹8 crore “rate” from liquor vendors. The matter became public after media reports, and instead of action, he was promoted and brought back to headquarters.