PATNA: A suspected gang war among alleged liquor smugglers in Samastipur district of “dry” Bihar has left three of them dead in the last four days.In the first incident on the night of July 7, liquor smuggler Prabhat Choudhary and his associate, Sunny Kumar, were allegedly lured into a trap and shot dead.Police said Prabhat was facing 11 criminal cases, including the ones for kidnapping, murder and liquor smuggling. Chargesheets had been filed in these cases.Based on the statement of Prabhat’s father, an FIR has been lodged against Akhilesh Rai and others. Police said Akhilesh, who also has several liquor smuggling cases registered against him, is on the run and efforts are on to trace him.

Samastipur SP Arvind Pratap Singh said a financial row could have led to the double murder. “There is information about a monetary dispute between Prabhat and Akhilesh. Sunny had no criminal record, but police suspect he was also linked to liquor smuggling as he lived with Prabhat,” he said.In the second incident, Ishant Kumar alias Chhotu was allegedly kidnapped and murdered on the night of July 8. His body was later buried in a field. Police recovered the body from the field allegedly owned by the accused, Nand Kumar Singh alias Anandi Singh, after digging nearly 10 feet with an earthmover. Anandi has a liquor smuggling case registered against him. The SP said Anandi and Chhotu previously worked together but fell out later.Meanwhile, Darbhanga range DIG Manoj Tiwari on Saturday held a meeting with Samastipur district police officers and asked them to intensify the crackdown on liquor smugglers and their networks.