A former student of a prestigious school of the city plotted the murder of Pankaj Yadav alias Pappu, the brother-in-law of former Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Yadav, and his servant Babloo out of greed.

The 20-year-old youth, Sonu Kumar alias Aakash Yadav, was a student of St Domnic Savio’s High School. He was arrested on Friday with his three accomplices — Guddu alias Akash, Prince and Roshan (aged between 20 and 25 years). All the four are residents of Danapur.

Sonu murdered Pankaj and Babloo with the help of his aides on July 9. Pankaj happened to be a distant relative of Lalu Prasad, as Subhash Yadav is the RJD chief’s brother-in-law.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Amrit Raj said: “Pankaj worked as a clerk at Bihar Legislative Council and lived in his two-storeyed house on Akashvani Road under the jurisdiction of Rajiv Nagar police station with his servant. His wife and a child stayed elsewhere. He owned a liquor shop near Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in the Raja Bazaar area.”

The police said Sonu, always in the look out for easy money for leading a high-flying life and maintaining his girlfriend, befriended Pankaj.

An officer said: “Liquor was Pankaj’s weakness. He used to start drinking with any stranger at any time. A cousin of Sonu worked at Pankaj’s liquor shop and Sonu used to drop in at the store to buy liquor. Sonu met Pankaj for the first time some three months back at the liquor shop. Sonu’s cousin introduced them to each other. Soon, Sonu became a regular visitor to Pankaj’s residence. They used to drink together. Pankaj had a car and Sonu used to drive it whenever Pankaj wanted to go on long drives.”

The police said Sonu often saw hard cash coming to Pankaj’s home from the liquor shop. Keen to pocket a big sum from Pankaj so that he could splurge on himself and his girlfriend, Sonu hatched a plan around a week before the murder and roped in three persons — Guddu, Prince and Roshan — to execute the crime. Roshan had served prison earlier.

“The night before his body was found (June 9), the four went to Pankaj’s house around 8.45pm and all of them had tea. Sonu proposed a car ride, to which Pankaj agreed. While Pankaj sat in the front seat of his car, Sonu took the driver’s seat. Sonu deliberately turned on the music system in full volume. Soon after, Roshan took out a country-made pistol and shot Pankaj in the head. He died immediately. Sonu and his accomplices dumped his body at the Nirala Nagar area and drove towards the RPS Mor area near Danapur. They dumped the car near the RPS College area and booked an autorickshaw for returning to Pankaj’s house,” the SSP said.

The officer said Guddu suddenly had a panic attack and returned home. “The others reached Pankaj’s residence around 9.40pm. As Babloo opened the door, the trio overpowered him and locked the door from inside. The servant was first beaten and the criminals switched on the TV set on full volume. Then, Sonu went to a locked room. He used the keys taken from Pankaj’s pocket to open it. He opened an almirah in the room and took out a briefcase having Rs 6 lakh. Before leaving, they shot Babloo point blank in the head,” the SSP said.

“Two days after the crime, Sonu went to the spot where the car was dumped and dropped a letter in the vehicle having the name of Dinesh Gope, a well-known criminal of the capital,” the SSP said.