Gaya, May 22: Two more associates of abduction kingpin Ajay Singh were arrested today and six others, including five from Ranchi and one from Darbhanga were identified.

Ajay Singh and eight others were arrested from Sharada Apartment in Gomati Nagar police station area of Lucknow, on May 6, in connection with the May 1 abduction of Gaya-based physician Pankaj Gupta and his wife Shubhra Gupta and the January 23 abduction of Rohtas-based contractor Ravi Ranjan Singh and his two associates.

Both abductions were carried out from roughly the same area on Grand Trunk road under Barachatti police station area of Gaya district.

Gaya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj said the police interrogated Ajay Singh and eight other gang members after taking them on a five-day remand.

On the basis of information provided by the accused, a three-member team went to Jharkhand and on Thursday arrested Shahid and Feroz in connection with contractor Ravi Ranjan Singh's abduction. Shahid is a resident of Rangaon village under Tamar police station in Ranchi district and Feroz of Karra village under the same police station in Khunti district.

SSP Maharaaj said Ajay Singh was the mastermind but would always change the mercenaries he used in different crime operations. Thus, a different gang was used in the contractor's abduction on January 23 and another one for the Guptas' on May 1. He always picked up for his gang people from low-income group, offering them payment.

The two men arrested from Jharkhand yesterday confessed that Ajay extracted Rs 20 lakh in ransom from contractor Ravi Ranjan Singh.

Ajay utilised the ransom amount to buy uniforms, VIP beacon lights and stars. The duo confessed they were paid Rs 50,000 each. They said they were locked up in a flat at Sharda Apartment in Lucknow till Ravi Ranjan was released.

Since their arrest, Ajay and the others have been interrogated by Lucknow police, Gaya police, crime investigation department and special task force (STF) sleuths.