Patna, July 28: The son of a former MLC pumped 32 bullets into his father’s alleged killer in 2003 and coolly set off for Delhi to study computer applications.

Avinash Srivastava’s luck ran out on Friday night when he was arrested with three others while going for a robbery in the Bypass area.

Senior police officers, who have been interrogating Avinash since the past couple of days, said he turned psycho after his father Lalan Srivastava had been killed in 2002. The next year, Avinash alias Amit, then hardly 20 years old, murdered notorious criminal Moin Khan alias Pappu Khan — said to be a key conspirator of Lalan’s killing — in Alamganj. Pappu’s body was later found riddled with 32 bullets.

Patna senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaj said: “After killing Pappu, Avinash went to Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, to pursue his MCA degree but his criminal mindset never changed.” During interrogation, Maharaj said, Avinash cofessed to murdering three persons claiming that he would gun down more once he is out of jail.

Another police officer said, even after completing MCA, probably because of family pressure, Avinash did not change his tack and rejoined the crime world after coming back to Patna in 2006. “Since then, he has been active in the underworld,” he said, adding that Avinash never stayed with his family — his mother and sister live in Kankerbagh — after joining the criminals.

Clinical psychologist Brinda Singh said killing with 32 bullets indicated high level of frustration, which is a symptom of mental sickness. He said: “Anyone’s mind being dominated by thought of revenge leads to a situation when thought process does not remain coherent that further adds to the frustration level.”

In case of Avinash, it is not clear, said the police sources, whether he was provoked by the family members or not.

Avinash, who used to reside at Ashok Nagar after completing his MCA studies, was involved in many criminal activities. Several cases under the Arms Act and murder are pending against Avinash since 2011. He was arrested on several occasions also but every time he was released on bail as the police had no idea that he was Pappu’s killer.

The police on Friday night picked up four persons, including Avinash, from the Bypass area with three country-made pistols, six live cartridges, a knife and cellphone. The others were identified as Munni Devi, Ravi Kumar Gupta and Prince Kumar, while two others managed to escape. They were planning to burgle a house in Maharani Colony, Maharaj said.