An alleged gangster was arrested by the Crime Branch on August 25 for his alleged involvement in the murder of fellow Bihar-based gangster Bablu Dubey and the kidnapping of Nepalese industrialist Suresh Kedia, the police said on Monday.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rajiv Ranjan said that accused Vikas Singh, a resident of Bihar’s Motihari, was arrested from R.K. Puram based on a tip-off.
The police said that Vikas confessed that he was involved in Bablu’s murder along with his accomplices, who have already been arrested.
Killed gangster in 2017
Bablu was involved in more than 50 cases of murder, extortion, kidnapping for ransom among other cases. He was shot dead in May 2017 while he was being produced in Bettiah court.
Killed over ranson share
“Most of the persons involved in the murder were arrested, while Vikas had been evading arrest,” Mr. Ranjan said. Vikas had allegedly planned to kill Bablu over sharing of ransom money in the kidnapping of Mr. Kedia.
2016 kidnap
The police said that Vikas along with Bablu and others had planned and executed the kidnapping of Mr. Kedia in 2016 from Nepal for a ransom of ₹100 crore. “Vikas revealed Bablu planned the abduction inside Buxar jail and later roped in other gangsters of Bihar who were confined with him in the jail,” Mr. Ranjan said. Mr. Kedia was recovered three days after his abduction from a secluded place in Motihari.
Vikas told the the police that Mr. Kedia handed over gold worth ₹10 crore to the kidnappers in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk after his release.
The police said that a plan to kill a businessman has been foiled with Vikas’ arrest.
Mr. Ranjan said that the accused met one Ashu Pehelwan when he was in jail. Pehelwan was arrested for liquor smuggling.
“He had approached Vikas for committing the murder of a businessman of Ghaziabad for which he agreed to pay ₹15 lakh. He had also brought two pistols with him from Bihar to kill the businessman,” Mr. Ranjan also said.