Gangster Vikram Sharma (45), the erstwhile mentor of don Akhilesh Singh and arrested on Saturday night from Dehradun in Uttarakhand, was brought to Jamshedpur on transit remand late on Monday.
City SP Prashant Anand, who led the team, said they completed transit formalities, went to Delhi from Dehradun by road to catch a flight for Ranchi and then again drove to Jamshedpur, reaching the city around 11.30pm.
"We will produce Sharma in court on Wednesday and forward him to judicial remand," the SP added, refusing to divulge if and what the gangster had revealed about his former protégé Akhilesh who is on the run.
A highly placed source in police, however, said they had laid their hands on solid evidence to suggest Sharma's direct links with the fugitive don. He said Sharma was being grilled at Bistupur police station. A two-member team from state CID had reached the steel city to quiz the gangster.
"We have papers indicating that Vikram Sharma, a resident of Sonari who was staying in Dehradun, is involved in Akhilesh Singh's businesses spread over Noida, parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand, besides Jharkhand. We also have information about his extortion racket. Several ATM cards, PAN cards, arms licences and real estate documents were seized from Rajpur Residency (in Dehradun) where Sharma lived," the DSP-rank officer said.
Another senior office said the joint team of city police and Special Task Force of Dehradun police had made Sharma invite Akhilesh to his residence in Dehradun on Saturday night. "The gangster, who agreed over phone, didn't turn up in person probably following a tip-off. His number has remained switched off since," the officer said, requesting anonymity.
Sharma, who had groomed Akhilesh in the late 1990s, had been absconding since early 2008 after he was named accused in the 2007 murder of shoe baron Ashish Dey.
DSP (HQ-I) K.N. Mishra said Sharma was likely to be remanded in judicial custody for 14 days from Wednesday after which they would seek his police remand for further interrogation.
