Patna, July 10: Incarcerated gangster Ritlal Yadav has become a lawmaker.

He had the last laugh amid allegations and counter-allegations between the BJP-led NDA and the Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad led alliance over return of " jungle raj (lawlessness)". He emerged winner in the Bihar Legislative Council elections from the Patna seat as an Independent.

Ritlal, lodged in the Beur Central Jail in Patna since 2010 in connection with multiple criminal offences, defeated the candidates of the BJP and the JDU. The RJD had distanced itself from him, after he filed nomination from the Patna seat defying the party's line. He was removed from post of RJD general secretary as well.

The Patna seat went to the JDU - the newfound ally of the RJD - under the seat-sharing formula. But Ritlal refused to withdraw his nomination. Sources said raids were conducted in the jail a couple of days before the elections just to exert pressure on him.

Known as the "terror of Danapur-Khagaul", Ritlal had recently hit the headlines after the recovery of documents related to railway contracts from the Godawari section of the prisoners' ward, where he is cooling his heels at present. Senior police officers had conducted the search operation after a contractor alleged that Ritlal threatened him from jail over phone.

Ritlal gained notoriety after his name figured in the murder of BJP leader Satya Narayan Sinha at Jamaliddin Chak village near Danapur in April 2003. A year later (in 2004), he was accused of killing two railway contractors in an air-conditioned coach of Howrah-Danapur Express.

As the news about his victory reached the Beur jail at noon, his supporters exchanged pleasantries and distributed sweets. "It is a day of celebrations for the 'Chhote Sarkar' of Danapur. It had not been possible without the blessings of his master (read Lalu ji)," another supporter of Ritlal told The Telegraph.

About the facilities to be given to Ritlal after being elected a member of the Upper House (Legislative Council) of the state, superintendent of Beur jail Shivendra Priyadarshi said: "Everything will be done according to the provisions in the Jail Manual."

Ritlal's is not an isolated case. Drug mafioso Radha Charan Sah emerged victorious from the Bhojpur seat. He had contested the polls as an RJD nominee.

JDU's Manorma Devi, the spouse of gangster-turned-politician Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav, won from the Gaya seat. Similarly, liquor baron Tunna Ji Pandey has been elected from Siwan.

Controversial LJP candidate from Nalanda, Dr Suman Kumar Singh, was not that fortunate. He lost to the JDU's Reena Devi.