Chandra Kant Jha being taken from the office of the DCP west, Delhi, on Monday. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, May 21: Delhi police yesterday arrested the alleged killer who had dumped the headless body of his victim outside Tihar Jail on Friday.

This was the fourth decapitated body Chandra Kant Jha is believed to have left outside the high-security jail in four years. Letters pinned to the bodies had challenged the police to “catch me if you can”.

The police said the letters helped them trace Jha, who was arrested from Adarsh Nagar in northwest Delhi. They have also found the weapons.

Jha, a middleman in Azadpur Mandi in north Delhi, has admitted to killing six persons since November 2003, the police said. All of them were his employees.

“He used to win their trust by providing them food and shelter. He would behave like a father figure but get annoyed over petty matters like eating meat, drinking, lying, etc. All the murders so far have been over such insignificant matters,” said Robin Hibu, deputy commissioner of police, west district, Delhi.

Jha, who is from Bihar, has been living in Delhi for the past 20 years. He has five daughters, aged between two and 10.

The police said he had changed his address more than 50 times since 2003. His current home is a rented house in Alipur, and he has a hideout in Haiderpur, both in north Delhi.

According to the police, Jha has confessed to enjoying committing the murders.

“He would chop off the body parts and dump them at various places in north Delhi,” an officer said. “He would ferry the corpses on a cycle-rickshaw fitted out with a scooter engine.”

Jha allegedly tasted blood for the first time in June 2003. The body was dumped in Alipur. The next murder came in quick succession — in November. The body was left outside Tihar Jail.

Jha is accused of killing another employee exactly two years later and throwing the body into a drain in Mangolpuri.

Since then, the Tihar Jail has been the place where the bodies have appeared. The murders were committed in October 2005, April 2007 and on Friday. All the corpses had their heads and limbs chopped off. The last victim was a teenager.

Metropolitan magistrate Bhupesh Kumar today sent Jha to police custody till May 28 for interrogation.

He had been convicted of attempted murder in 1998 and served a 42-month term in Tihar Jail.