A court in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar on Friday granted permission to a Bihar police team to take don Shambhu Singh on transit remand.

A Special Task Force (STF) team nabbed Singh (45) from a hotel in Haridwar on Wednesday after camping there for about a month. Shambhu would be produced before a court in Muzaffarpur, which had earlier issued an arrest warrant against him in connection with a shootout case.

Confirming the Uttarakhand court order, inspector-general (operations) Amit Kumar said that Shambhu would be brought to Bihar under tight security arrangements. “We have urged our counterparts in Uttarakhand to provide additional security forces to escort Shambhu. His name figured in the list of 10 most wanted criminals of Bihar,” he added. The government had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for the arrest of Shambhu, who was absconding for over a decade in over 30 cases of murder and extortion.

The Bihar police’s economic offences unit (EOU) is also gathering evidence against Shambhu and close associate Mantu, alias Pradumna Sharma, to confiscate their assets worth over Rs 100 crore spread in six states. “We are gathering detailed information about the dons’ investments in real estate and other businesses. Major part of the investments is in the real estate, considered to be the most lucrative business for gangsters like them,” said a senior investigating officer.

He said the duo amassed huge wealth through extortion from contractors of the central public works department offices in Patna and Ranchi (Jharkhand). “Those who did not follow their diktat were eliminated by hired goons,” said the officer.

He said preliminary investigation has revealed the two ganglords owned properties in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, National Capital Region and Jharkhand besides Bihar.