Ranchi, Sept. 3: Gangster Pankaj Lala, who kept police in Santhal Pargana on toes for eight years and carried a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh on his head, was arrested from Teen Pahar locality of Sahebganj district's Rajmahal area in the wee hours today.

One 9mm pistol, four live cartridges, several SIMs, mobile sets and fake PAN cards were found on him.

Sahebganj SP P. Murugan, who briefed the media on the breakthrough, said Lala, a native of Teen Pahar, was wanted by the district police in as many as nine criminal cases.

"An important member of the criminal gang led by dreaded Prakash Mandal, Lala was active in several districts of Santhal Pargana region and neighbouring states of Bihar and Bengal. Police had been on the hunt for him for the past eight years," said the SP, adding that Mandal too would be arrested soon.

Lala gained notoriety in 2009 when he made failed attempts to kill BJP's Sahebganj unit president Randhir Singh. In the same year, he abducted a junior engineer along with two other government employees from Taljhari locality. They were later released under mounting police pressure.

Earlier, Lala was once arrested by the Bengal police for killing his rival Surendra Bharti. But, he absconded after coming out on bail.

In March, this year Jharkhand police had announced the cash award on his head.

Dacoity cuffs

Six persons were arrested in Gumla last night as police busted the armed gang that barged into a church in Pokla-Kuda locality under Kamdara police station area and decamped with Rs 2 lakh in cash on the intervening night of August 19 and 20.

Gumla SP Chandan Kumar Jha said that four mobile phones and Rs 1,500 in cash were recovered from their possession.

"Police first arrested two criminals, Shamim Ansari and Samsher Ansari, both natives of Nagri in Ranchi. On the basis of their revelation, the police arrested four others, Suleman Ansari, Manjoor Ansari, Sohel Ansari and Aftab Ansari, also from Nagri, later. They spent the money taken from the church," Jha said.