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Police’s big catch may not be dreaded gangster Satish Pandey

Gaya: Confusion prevails over the identity of noted gangster Satish Pandey, arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police, with a corporator of Gaya and the arrested man’s son claiming him to be the mukhiya (panchayat head) of a village in Bihar’s Jehanabad district.

The man, who has been insisting that he is Ravindra Yadav, the mukhiya of Jamanganj in Makhdumpur block of Jehanabad district, was allowed to ring up his son Roshan and a corporator of Gaya, Vinod Mandal, during the interrogation. They recognised his voice and confirmed his claimed identity.

The U.P. police on Thursday claimed to have arrested Bihar’s fugitive ganglord Satish Pandey when he was going to pay obeisance at Vidhyachal in Mirzapur district.

Ravindra Yadav, son of Nanu Yadav of Kotwa Bigha village in Jehanabad, ordinarily lives in Chotki Nawada locality of Gaya.

Corporator Mandal, Roshan and other members of the man’s family have left for Mirzapur to identify him.

When contacted, R.K. Rathi, Superintendent of Police of Gopalganj district, the stronghold of Satish Pandey, whose brother Amarendra Pandey is a Bahujan Samaj Party MLA from Kateya and wife Urmila Pandey chairperson of the District Board, told PTI that a police team with photographs of the fugitive criminal had been despatched to Mirzapur to ascertain his identity.

“There are striking similarities between the photos of Pandey available with the Bihar police and the man, but it is quite likely that the person who has been arrested is not the one we have been looking for all these years,” he said.

The man who U.P. Police Director-General Vikram Singh had claimed was Satish Pandey, was arrested while performing puja at the famous Durga temple at Vindhyachal.

Pandey, who carries a bounty of Rs.2.5 lakh, including Rs 50,000, announced by the CBI, has about 60 cases pending against him in Bihar and U.P.

Apart from his alleged involvement in the murder of former Bihar minister Brij Bihari Prasad, he is accused in a large number of cases of murder, loot and rioting. – PTI

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