A prominent Patna-based businessman with business interests ranging from healthcare to real estate was shot dead late Friday night outside his apartment building in the city’s Gandhi Maidan area, six years after his son was killed in a similar fashion.
The incident, which comes ahead of the Assembly polls in Bihar, quickly snowballed into a political flashpoint, with the opposition citing it as yet another example of the crumbling law and order in the state.
According to the police, unidentified assailants shot Gopal Khemka (64), the owner of Magadh Hospital, from close range while he was waiting at his society’s gate in his car near the Twin Tower residential complex adjacent to Hotel Panache. He was taken to a hospital in Kankarbagh, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Apart from owning a hospital, Khemka had also expanded into real estate and owned factories. He is survived by his son, a doctor, and a daughter who lives abroad. The killing comes six years after Khemka’s other son, Gunjan (31), was murdered in a similar audacious attack in Vaishali district. Police sources said a land deal appeared to be a motive in that case, and the accused were eventually released on bail.
City Superintendent of Police (Central) Diksha said that a forensic team was called to the scene of Saturday’s crime, and they recovered a bullet and a shell casing.
“We received information that businessman Gopal Khemka has been shot dead in the south area of Gandhi Maidan. Police responded by reaching the hospital and then the crime scene,” she said. “We are examining CCTV footage. It is suspected that the assailants came on a bike. We are investigating all angles to find more details and the motive.”
Khemka lived on the sixth floor of the tower. According to the complaint filed by his son, Dr Gaurav, Khemka left for the Bankipur Club around 9:30 pm. “At approximately 11:20 pm, as he was returning and reached the main gate of their building, assailants who had been lying in wait shot him while he was still in his car,” it states.
Hearing the gunshots and being informed by the security guard, Gaurav and his wife rushed downstairs, only to find Khemka covered in blood. They rushed him to a hospital in Kankarbagh, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar convened an urgent review meeting with the Director General of Police and other senior officials. In a post on X, he said: “Law and order is the government’s top priority. Whoever commits a crime, regardless of who they are, will not be spared under any circumstances. I have instructed that investigations into criminal incidents be expedited and that swift action be taken against the guilty. The police and administration have been directed to work with full alertness and strictness to maintain law and order.”
A police officer said that a special team comprising officers from the Special Task Force and the central district police has been formed to investigate.
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan was among those who offered his condolences to the family. “I hope that strict and prompt action will be taken under the law so that no one dares to commit such a crime in the future,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Manoj Sharma said the police were “actively working on this case”. The BJP and JD(U) are allies in the state.
The killing left Khemka’s friends and acquaintances shaken, especially since it was in the heart of the city.
His friend Sudesh Sarin was with Khemka minutes before he was killed. “We were returning from the Bankipore Club. He dropped me off at Exhibition Road just minutes before the incident. Around midnight, I received a call from another friend, who told me Gopal had been shot dead,” he said. “If the attack had been minutes earlier, it could have been me as well.”
Those who knew him described Khemka as “a good man” from a family of “well-respected people”. “He had no known disputes, nor had he received any threats. He never discussed any problems,” Sarin said.
Another acquaintance, Kusumlata Verma, claimed, “Despite this being such a posh area and Gandhi Maidan police station just 500 meters away, no police officer arrived at the scene for nearly an hour-and-a-half. There should have been a patrolling van here.”
Rajeev Kumar Singh, a 37-year-old businessman who met Khemka through the city’s Bankipore Club, said, “Khemka uncle was a director of the club. He was also a prominent member of the Rotary Club. If such a prominent person can be murdered in the heart of the city, near the district magistrate’s residence, who is safe in Patna?”
In a post on X, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav said, “A prominent businessman in Patna has been shot dead just a few steps away from the police station! Every month, hundreds of traders are being killed in Bihar, but we still can’t call it ‘jungle raj’? Because this is what the scriptures call media management, perception management, and image management.”
Congress spokesperson Gyan Ranjan Gupta said the incident showed that Bihar was “a victim of organised capital”.