PATNA: A Gopalganj-based contractor, Ramashankar Singh, was burned to death allegedly by engineer in-chief of water resources department Murlidhar Singh at his Gandak Colony residence under Town police station in

district on Thursday.

The injured was rushed to a

hospital in

for treatment where he later succumbed to burn injuries. The deceased contractor’s relatives alleged that the engineer in-chief set Ramashankar on fire after he refused to pay Rs 15 lakh as bribe to the latter.

Gopalganj district magistrate Animesh Kumar Parashar said a probe has been ordered into the incident and the room of the engineer’s house sealed. Town SHO Prashant Kumar Rai said a forensic team would collect evidences from the spot. A container full of petrol was recovered from the room.

Gopalganj SP Rasheed Zaman said raids were on to nab the engineer in-chief. The deceased was the managing director of Ashiana Contract Pvt Ltd.