Patna, July 3: Dashing to Delhi after committing crimes in the state is in vogue.

The arrest of two gangsters - Bharat Yadav and Lambu Sharma - has proved that the national capital has become a haven for the fugitive criminals of Bihar. An absconder in a murder case in Bhojpur district in central Bihar, Bharat was arrested from Delhi's Karol Bagh on Thursday and was brought to Ara on transit remand on Friday. Bharat, who wields clout in political circles, was carrying a reward of Rs 15,000 on his head.

Last week, another gangster Sachidanand Sharma aka Lambu Sharma (24), the prime accused in the Ara bomb blast case, was nabbed from Maharana Pratap International Bus Terminal in Delhi. He was carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head.

Bhojpur superintendent of police (SP) Navin Chandra Jha said a Bhojpur police team was camping in the national capital after it was ascertained that Bharat was in Delhi with his family and running a dhaba (roadside eatery) in the Karol Bagh area.

A resident of Jamira village under the jurisdiction of Mufassil police station in Bhojpur district, Bharat (36) was wanted in connection with the murder of one Bhuwar Yadav in February. He reportedly shifted to Delhi after the police announced a reward for his arrest in March.

Sources said the Bihar police team pounced upon Bharat with the help of their Delhi counterparts as soon as he reached Pragati Maidan to meet his accomplices. He was produced before a Delhi court, which allowed the visiting Bihar police team to take him on three-day transit remand.

"He was staying in the national capital using fake identity. Though we had been on his trail for long, he could be apprehended only yesterday," the Bhojpur SP said.

A week earlier, Lambu's arrest created ripples in political circles because he revealed to the police that a ruling party (JDU) legislator had facilitated his escape from judicial custody to kill a gangster-turned politician of Uttar Pradesh, Mukhtar Ansari.

Sources in the intelligence agencies said after Lambu and his associate Akhilesh Upadhyay escaped from the Ara court on January 23 this year, Lambu stayed at the residence of a JDU MP in Delhi.

Lambu's aide Upadhaya was arrested allegedly from a politician's house in Patna but the police showed his arrest from somewhere else.

Lambu, a resident of Piro in Bhojpur district, was taken on three-day police remand for interrogation. He reportedly told the police said that he was promised a huge sum by a JDU legislator for eliminating Mukhtar, lodged in Agra Central Jail. The legislator, however, denied the charge.

Earlier, Sunil Singh (41), a resident of East Champaran, was picked up from Delhi in August last year. He was evading arrest in a shootout incident at Krishna Nagar in Motihari in which Mantu Sharma (30) and Ashutosh Pandey (26) - were killed.