Elusive for 13 yrs, Bihar gangster held

LUCKNOW: A dreaded Bihar gangster, who was on run for past 13 years, was arrested by the UP Special Task Force (STF) from Chinhat area here on Tuesday. The gangster, Pappu Srivastava alias Sanjit Srivastava, was wanted in multiple sensational murders and kidnappings.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP), STF, Arvind Chaturvedi, said the Bihar police did not have his proper photograph and other details for past many years. He said he was last arrested in 2004 along with AK-47 assault rifle in Bihar’s Aara district but he did not disclose his identity. At the time of the arrest, his name was mentioned as Rajeev Ranjan.

The Bihar police failed to discover that he was Pappu Srivastava, sharp shooter of Bihar’s mafioso Satish Pandey and Rajan Tewari, and had committed multiple murders, said the ASP and added that Srivastava was elusive after he came out of jail on bail in 2005 and was not arrested since then.

“During his elusive period, he killed police inspector Yoganand Singh using AK-47 assault rifle while trying to escape after a robbery in Siwan (Bihar) in year 2006. He also attacked a prominent Bihar politician Krishna Shahi in Gopalganj (Bihar) in 2014,” said the ASP.

He said Srivastava first used the assault rifle in 2002 to kill Anil Rai, arch-rival of Satish Pandey, and then used it in two other sensational killings of contractors JP Yadav and Brijesh Rai in 2005.

He added that so far the police had managed to confirm his involvement in 12 sensational crime incidents since 1993. However, his involvement was suspected in several other incidents.

Srivastava’s modus-operandi was to commit crime and disappear from the area for some time, the ASP said. Due to this tactic, his involvement was not established in several crimes he had committed, he added.

For past two-three years, Srivastava was living a secret life at a relative’s place in Lucknow. His relative did not know about Srivastava’s criminal background as he posed himself to be a contractor and often used to remain on tour, the ASP said.

He said Srivastava’s role was also suspected in some unsolved murders that took place in Lucknow in past 2-3 years. The STF team would further interrogate Srivastava after taking him on police custody remand, the ASP added.