MUMBAI: Nitin Deshmukh alias Appa, a gangster and close lieutenant of underworld don Chota Rajan, was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch on Friday, police said.

Deshmukh was arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for his alleged role in supplying and storing arms and ammunition for the Rajan gang, crime branch sources said.

He has been previously arrested on the charge of murdering a Congress MLA from Karjat in late 90s. He was also arrested in 2000 along with an arms consignment of Chota Rajan gang, that included sophisticated weapons like AK-47, Mousers and stenguns, sources said.