Calcutta/Ranchi, Nov. 26: A joint team of Calcutta Police and Jharkhand police today arrested Sandip Pradhan alias Sandip Thapa, one of the most dreaded criminals of Ranchi, from the Chingrihata intersection of Calcutta.

The 26-year-old, wanted in at least eight murder cases, was on his way out of the city in an SUV when the team intercepted him along with one of his associates, 32-year-old Neeraj Kumar.

“We had information that Sandip had turned up at well-known hospital in the area to clear the medical bills of his ailing father Jay Kishor Pradhan, who has been admitted for the last few days,” said a senior officer of Beliaghata police station.

“It was a co-ordinated move timed to perfection,” he added.

Sandip, also known as Sandip Thakur among his gang members, hails from Ranchi’s Sukhdeonagar and is one of the top extortionists who has never shied away from gunning down targets when they refused to pay.

On September 9, around 8.30pm, Sandip walked into a hardware store owned by Vishnu Agarwal in Ranchi and demanded a hefty amount. When Agarwal refused, Sandip gunned him down from point blank range. The gang didn’t spare Agarwal’s associate Raju and murdered him too.

Since then the Jharkhand police have been keenly tracking Sandip’s movements and early on Thursday when they learnt that he was heading for Calcutta, information was immediately passed on to the police headquarters in Calcutta.

A team from Beliaghata police station was readied and soon after a team from Sukhdeonagar police station reached the city. The operation was planned to the last details.

“Neeraj could be hiding his actual identity but all that is known is that he hails from Patna and has been Sandip’s acquaintance for long,” the officer added.