RANCHI, May 10 -- The political battle over law and order in Jharkhand escalated sharply on Sunday, with the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP exchanging barbs over a fugitive gangster's viral allegations of a "police-mafia nexus" in Dhanbad, the state's coal hub.

The controversy intensified after Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi wrote to chief minister Hemant Soren, citing video statements by notorious gangster Prince Khan to demand an NIA probe into alleged links between police officials and organised crime.

In his letter, Marandi alleged that administrative postings in Dhanbad had effectively become "extortion licences" and claimed that the district was witnessing a "competition" between police and criminals over who could i...