Patna: Police have caught contract killer and extortionist Gulab Singh in connection with last week's twin murders of an activist and farmer in the district.

Social activist and businessman Paras Nath Singh, and farmer Anjay Singh were killed in a span of 24 hours. Naubatpur police station house officer Ramakant Tiwari said Singh was killed for refusing to pay money to the gang led by Gulab Singh.

"A local criminal, Gulab Singh, was extorting timber merchant Paras Nath Singh but he refused to pay," Tiwari said. On the night of January 3, Gulab and some of his associates reached Singh's house at Pali village and shot him in the chest while he was watching the television. Rai had died on his way to Patna Medical College and Hospital following his referral from Hitech hospital at Saguna Mor.

Hours after killing Singh, Gulab reached Abhranchak village in the Naubatpur police station area and killed Anjay when he was sleeping at his farm. Besides Gulab, the police have arrested two of his associates Bharat Kumar and Lalit Kumar, and recovered three pistols and 27 cartridges.

Anjay's brother Vijay had blamed Shailesh Singh, a resident in their village, to orchestrate the farmer's murder over a dispute with both of them on last year's local body elections. The police said Shailesh had paid Gulab Rs 50,000 to kill Vijay but the contract killer mistook Anjay for his brother and killed him.

Officer Tiwari said: "Gulab also confessed to the police that he had been waiting for a chance to kill Vijay and Anjay as the brothers were allegedly behind his father Lulan Sharma's murder last year."

Based on Vijay's complaint, the police were on the hunt for Gulab. They finally pinned his location to Keshi road in Naubatpur with Gulab's call record details. The police are now on the look-out for Jataha, another criminal involved in the murders.