In net: Tanveer Alam in police custody. Picture by Sachin

Patna, Jan. 12: Dheeraj Pandey, the dreaded psychopathic killer in Murder 2, inspired 24-year-old Dheeraj Kumar so much that he changed his surname. The silver screen villain also inspired the young man to take to a life of crime, including armed robbery and murder.

The death of Dheeraj, an accused of the daylight robbery at Swarn Rekha Jewellers in Patna City on January 10, was also as tragic as Prashant Narayanan’s character in the 2011 Bollywood thriller. While trying to escape from cops yesterday, Dheeraj fell into a pond and drowned. His associate, Tanveer Alam, was arrested. He confessed to the crime.

A police officer said: “These young men were attracted to a life of fashion. When Tanveer was arrested, he was wearing an expensive leather jacket. Dheeraj’s clothes were also expensive. Interrogation revealed that Dheeraj was a movie buff. After watching Murder 2, he was inspired by its villain. As they were namesakes, Dheeraj decided to change his surname to Pandey.”

Sources said police received a tip-off last afternoon that four persons had set out to kill a person on motorbikes. The cops refused to reveal the name of the target but said they intercepted the criminals at Chilitand locality in Alamganj around 4pm.

When the police chased them, two of the criminals managed to escape. But the cops were close on the heels of Tanveer, who was driving the motorbike, and Dheeraj. The duo entered the Jhalla area in their bid to escape. Fearing that the cops would catch them, Dheeraj jumped off the speeding bike into a pond.

“He did not know the pond was deep and he drowned,” said the police officer. “He was fished out and rushed to Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared brought dead,” the officer told The Telegraph.

He added: “Tanveer was arrested. He is aged around 25.”

Two sophisticated revolvers and three .32 bore pistols were recovered from the duo. One of the revolvers has a “Made in Italy” tag on it.

Last evening, Tanveer confessed to the robbery at the jewellery shop at Hajiganj under Chowk police station. He also told the police that five others were involved in the crime. “He also confessed to the murder of one Rashid Mian in Patna City on December 16 last year,” said the officer.

The police officer also said: “The way they had planned out the robbery at the jewellery store is a shocker for the cops. We have never seen anything like this before. At present, we are trying to track down the five more men involved in the robbery.”

They had robbed more than 10 gold chains at gunpoint from the jeweller. Shop owners of Hajiganj yesterday kept their business establishments closed.