Mafia don nabbed after 20-year search

NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Mafia don Brijesh Singh, who carries a reward of Rs.500,000 on his head and was absconding for more than 20 years, was arrested at Bhubaneswar airport on Thursday.

According to Delhi Police sources, who nabbed Brijesh Singh in a joint operation with their counterparts in Orissa, the don was once a close associate of underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim and Uttar Pradesh legislator Mukhtar Ansari.

He was wanted in over 100 cases ranging from murder to extortion and abduction.

"Singh was wanted in Uttar Pradesh and carried a reward of Rs.500,000 on his head. He was arrested in a joint operation with Orissa Police," a senior police official said.

In the Orissa capital, where Singh had been living for the last five years, Deputy Commissioner of Police Amitav Thakur said he had been posing as a real estate builder.

"The man arrested used to change his name frequently and it appears he is one of India's most wanted criminals," Thakur said.