Rajeev Ranjan Singh (blindfolded) at the SSP office in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Jan. 19: Rajeev Ranjan Singh, alias Pintu Singh, a criminal operating in the state capital for over two decades, was arrested in Calcutta late last night.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar said a special team of Patna police, led by deputy superintendent of police (Sadar) Rashid Jaman, zeroed in on Rajeev in the Ballygunge police station area of Calcutta.

Rajeev, in his forties, was cooped up in his luxurious flat in Ballygunge when he was caught, the senior police officer added.

The officer, however, refused to divulge the name the name of the apartment from where he was caught. He said investigations were on.

Calcutta police sources confirmed that the man was nabbed last night. However, there was no case against him with the police in Calcutta.

Rajeev, who started working as a bus agent at Jakkanpur terminus in Patna in 1985, forayed into the world of crime soon after and gained notoriety.

“Around 20 criminal cases are already lodged against Rajeev in various police stations of the state capital. Of them, he is named in at least six cases of murder, including that of a police constable and a sub-inspector. Rajeev had allegedly killed the sub-inspector and fled with his service revolver. Police are at present verifying the dates of the crimes,” the SSP said.

Sources said the team formed to nab Rajeev first toured Mumbai, Goa and Bangalore to gather leads on him before finally zeroing in on Rajeev in Calcutta.

“Rajeev tried desperately to escape, but was overpowered and caught. He was primarily engaged in extorting people and had amassed huge property in terms of land and other assets in Mumbai and several cities in south India,” the SSP said.

“More than 75 per cent of the buses plying in areas under Jakkanpur police station used to pay extortion money to him on a monthly basis. We have leant that Rajeev even owns several plots in Mumbai,” the officer added.

Rajeeb had been arrested from the Jakkanpur police station area in 2003 and served jail till 2008 before walking out on bail.

The sources said two bullet-proof jackets were found on Rajeev at the time of his arrest in Calcutta. They added that he had once served as a mukhiya of a panchayat near Punpun on the outskirts of Patna in 2002.

“Once Rajeev stepped out of jail, he had made Calcutta a base of his operation. However, he used to keep shuttling across various cities in the country, investing money that he had earned from extortion in real estate. At the Jakkanpur bus terminus, Rajeev had been involved in several shootouts and gang wars with Kundan Singh, another gangster, who is at present serving jail for the murder of transporter Ravikant Choudhary,” the SSP said.

The police added that they would interrogate Rajeev to extract more information about his various ventures and criminal cases that he was involved in.