PATNA Bihar police on Friday arrested three people, including two Nepal nationals, from Sheohar district for allegedly breaking into a gold traders house in Thanpur village under Mahnar police station area of Vaishali district and looting valuables worth lakhs of rupees.
One of the accused, Jairam Paswan, a notorious dacoit from Nepal, has been wanted by the Bihar Police since 1998. He had then fled Malaysia after a dacoity at Madhubani’s Kendriya Vidyalaya in 1998 and, according to the police, he has been intermittently returning to Bihar and fleeing abroad after committing similar crimes.
Police said that a dozen-armed dacoits had opened fire and hurled bombs while fleeing with the cash and valuables on April 21. Police have recovered two stolen motorcycles from their possession. However, the valuables are yet to be recovered.
The dacoits arrived there with full preparation, even carrying their own ladder to enter the house, they added. The arrested persons have been identified as Jairam Paswan, Bhola Shah (both citizens of Nepal) and Rajiv Singh of Sheohar district.
Vaishali SP Vikram Sihag said that Paswan was involved in a dacoity in Madhubani in 1998 and has since remained on the wanted list of the state police. After the incident, he went to hide in Nepal’s Lalbandi. When police pressured him, he fled to Malaysia and started working as a labourer at an aluminium company.
However, Paswan kept returning after long intervals to continue criminal activities. According to police records, 24 cases, including one murder, have been registered against him in Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga and Nepal. This is the first time he has been arrested by police in Bihar.
The SP added that Shah has more than 11 dacoity cases registered against him in Bihar and his is said to be an expert in making bombs. He allegedly lost a finger while preparing a bomb. Meanwhile, Singh is also an accused in two separate dacoity cases.
Police said Idris Nat, believed to be the alleged mastermind of the Bihar-based gang, remains at large along with several other accused. The dacoity conspiracy was allegedly hatched in Bettiah, where criminals from Bihar and Nepal had assembled during a wedding function.
Sihag added that when a police team raided their hideout, they were preparing for a new incident. During interrogation, they allegedly said that they had reached Mahnar in a tempo via Muzaffarpur. After the incident, they fled by walking through the fields for about 15 kilometers.
An FIR has been registered under sections 310(2) (dacoity) and 311 (robbery or dacoity committed while attempting to cause death or grievous hurt) of BNS and sections 3 and 4 of Explosive Act. So far, four criminals have been arrested.
The police are now conducting raids for other members of the gang.
