Berhampur, May 12: Police today arrested the two youths, who had gunned down two persons in an autorickshaw near the entrance gate of Lanjipalli bypass adjoining the national highway, from Munger in Bihar.

The murder took place on May 6. Two young men were shot dead at BNPur. "The killings were the result of a tussle for supremacy between two criminal gangs, who had been operating on trains. They used to snatch people's belongings. Lalu Kumar Yadav and Sailesh Yadav, the two rival gang leaders, in their thirties, were killed on May 6," said Berhampur police superintendent Sarthak Sarangi.

"The two arrested persons are Anirudh aka Bunti and Arendra Baral aka Bhola, and both of them belong to the gang that operates under Lalu. All the members of the Sailesh gang are absconding," Sarangi said.

It is alleged that the Sailesh gang had been operating in Berhampur for the past 10 years and was at loggerheads with the Lalu gang, which started operating in the same area since the past one-and-a-half years. They were engaged in snatching and suitcase lifting on trains. The criminals stayed in Berhampur, Chatrapur, Ichhapur and nearby places.

The police said 10 gang members - six of the Sailesh gang and four of the Lalu gang - were residing in lodges at Kamapalli. On May 1, Sailesh had threatened Lalu and told him that he would be killed if he dared to enter his area. On May 5, the two groups decided to sort out things amicably.

On May 6, when members of the gangs were returning from Chatrapur railway station in two separate autorickshaws, Lalu asked the other auto driver to stop and shot dead Sailesh. Hitesh, an associate of Sailesh, avenged the murder by shooting Lalu.

"All the gang members of Sailesh fled from the spot by snatching a bike owned by one Lanjipalli Brahmin Sahi resident, Naresh Patra. Others, too, managed to escape," said Sarangi.

"All the gang members belong to Boriharpur village in Munger district of Bihar. A police team with the co-operation of the Munger authorities managed to nab the accused," Sarangi said.