Patna, Apr 17 (IANS): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday condemned the murders of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in police custody and termed it "extremely tragic".

Seeking immediate action against the criminals, Chief Minister Kumar said elimination of criminals in this manner is "completely unjustified".

"Such an incident has never occurred in the country or in the world. Killers emerge amid a bunch of journalists and murder the persons who were on the way to hospital for treatment. It is an extremely unfortunate, painful and tragic incident. What were the authorities doing?. A strict vigil should have been maintained when the criminals were being brought," Kumar said.

"Things would have still been different had they been convicted, sentenced to death and lodged in jail. But a person who was brought out from jail for court hearing or medical treatment in hospitals and getting murdered, is extremely unfortunate and tragic. The governments have to think about it," Kumar said.

"How could the criminals be eliminated in this manner? A country is governed by a set of rules which has to be adhered to at any cost. Only the court is empowered to award the death penalty to criminals," Kumar said.

Coming down heavily on the saffron party, he added all the institutions have been captured by them (BJP and RSS). What can you do?"