The Bihar Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday arrested the leader of Pandav Sena, a most wanted fugitive from Bihar, with a criminal history of involvement in cases as murder, contract killing, extortion, abduction, possession of arms, etc.Sanjay Singh (File photo)He was arrested as he alighted from the Vikramshila Express at the Patna Junction railway station. He had been evading arrest for around one year in a case related to the recovery of an AK-47 assault rifle, live cartridges and a .315 bore rifle.Patna SSP Kartikey K Sharma said that police will take Singh, who is a resident of Nima village in rural Patna, on remand in the recovery of the AK-47 assault rifle case. Police had carried out a raid on the night of August 23, 2025 and caught 14 gang members and recovered an AK-47 assault rifle, a .315 bore rifle and 120 live cartridges of different bore. Singh was missing since.On August 24, 2025, a fresh case was registered at Bihta police station against Singh and his 14 named associates. The FIR also alleged that Singh’s associates were involved in illegal sand mining in the riverine areas of Saran, Bhojpur and Patna district and extorted ₹5,000 each from sand-laden boats. Those who refused to pay were threatened with weapons, police said.Singh, who had been jailed in murder cases, was out on bail since 2024. “On April 26, 2022 armed men led by Singh gunned down famous hotel operator Abhiram Sharma in his house in Kanaudi in Jehanabad district. Sharma’s nephew Dinesh was also shot dead around the same time near Masaudhi in rural Patna,” said Kundan Krishnan, STF director general of operations.On April 27, 2022, Gautam Singh, 32, and his elder brother Shambhu Singh, residents of Nima village near Dhanarua in rural Patna, were gunned down by bike-borne assailants. The victims were the brothers of Chitranjan Kumar Sharma, a former BJP MLA from Arwal constituency and former Pandav Sena member. Police said that Abhiram was Chitranjan’s uncle.Singh allegedly hatched a conspiracy to eliminate them over enmity. “Following an investigation in this case, Singh was arrested from Ranchi by a STF team. A rifle with a magazine, 21 live cartridges, four cell phones and two electronic devices were recovered from his possession. He was sent to jail and remained there until getting bail in 2024,” Krishnan added.According to police, Pandav Sena is a criminal gang formed in the 1990s by some rich landowners in central Bihar. The members are allegedly involved in illegal sand mining and have murdered several people. The 27 cases against Sanjay Singh were registered at Patna, Jehanabad, Bhagalpur, Ranchi and Hajaribagh police stations in Bihar, police said.Singh had formed Pandav Sena after splitting off from Ranvir Sena, another organised criminal gang. During Rabri Devi’s rule in 2000, the gang was active in Jehanabad, Arwal, rural Patna, and parts of Gaya, Nalanda and Purnea. In 2004, Singh, his wife and associates were arrested and sent to judicial custody in Beur jail. Police had also seized sophisticated arms from them.