Bharatiya Janata Party leader Visheshwar Ojha was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Bhojpur, Bihar on Friday, according to reports. Ojha was the vice-president of the BJP's Bihar unit and an MLA from Shahpur. The 45-year-old had up to 10 cases of attempt to murder against him, besides other criminal cases. Ojha was arrested in 2006 by the police in connection with several cases of attempt to murder and extortion. Bihar Director General of Police PK Thakur confirmed the killing and said Bhojpur superintendent of police and a special police team had gone to the village where Ojha was killed.

Ojha is the second BJP leader who was shot dead in the space of 12 hours in Bihar, reported ANI. Earlier on Friday, leader Kedarnath Singh was shot dead in the Chhapra district. Besides Ojha and Singh, two others were also reportedly injured in the shooting that killed Ojha, and were hospitalised. Reacting to the killings, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's will to control crime in the state "has come to an end". He added that the chief minister is "only attending meetings to control law and order, but criminals are out of control".

Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan said the incidents showed that law and order in the state had completely failed. Paswan said the chief minister had to answer for the spate in political killings or Bihar would have be put under the President's rule.