Vaishali police heaved a sigh of relief on Friday, a day after Arvind Rai alias Gopeji — involved in a series of gang rapes — was arrested from Haryana.

Arvind (36), a resident of Khapura village in Vaishali was apprehended from Jhajhar. He was working as a labourer there.

Arvind was produced before the chief judicial magistrate, Hajipur, who remanded him in judicial custody for two weeks. He was subsequently lodged in the Hajipur divisional jail.

Vaishali superintendent of police (SP) Suresh Prasad Choudhary said a three-member team was sent to Haryana following a tip-off that Arvind was hiding there. An associate of gangster Bhagdev Rai, Arvind had fled after his name figured in the gang rape of two minors at Khajbatti village under the jurisdiction of Bidupur police station on September 22, 2013. Five persons were made named accused.

The police had to face the wrath of the residents of Khajbatti and Khapura villages, which witnessed a series of rape of minors in the past year. Several parents had stopped sending their wards to schools because of the terror unleashed by Arvind and his henchmen.

The police said Rai was arrested for the first time though his criminal antecedent dates back to 2003. The audacity of the gang can be gauged from the fact that Arvind killed Rajdeo Rai, a witness to the case of two minors’ gang rape, in December 2013.

The SP said: “Another absconder, Rahul, was living with Arvind in Haryana. But he managed to escape.”