Sanjay Singh, a leader of the Pandav Sena special militia and an accused in 27 cases in Bihar related to murder, extortion, kidnapping and arms business, was arrested from Patna Junction on Tuesday morning by the Bihar Special Task Force, police said. Singh had evaded arrest for the past year in a case related to the recovery of an AK-47 assault rifle, live cartridges and a .315 rifle.
Pandav Sena is a criminal gang formed in the 1990s by some wealthy landowners in central Bihar. The group is involved in illegal sand mining and has killed several people. The 27 cases against Singh were registered at Patna, Jehanabad, Bhagalpur, Ranchi and Hagaribagh police stations.
Singh was wanted in a case registered with Behta police station against him and 14 of his named accomplices on August 24, 2025. The FIR alleged that Singh’s accomplices were involved in illegal sand mining in riverine areas of Saran, Bhojpur and Patna district and were blackmailing them. $5000 each for boats loaded with sand. Police said those who refused to pay were threatened with weapons.
Police conducted a raid on August 23, 2025, arresting 14 people and recovering an AK-47 assault rifle, a .315-caliber rifle and 120 live rounds of various calibers.
“On April 26, 2022, armed criminals led by Singh opened fire on popular hotel operator Abhiram Sharma at his residence at Kanode in Jehanabad district. Sharma’s nephew, Dinesh, was shot dead around the same time near Masudhi in rural Patna,” said Kundan Krishnan, general manager, operations, Bihar STF.
On April 27, 2022, Gautam Singh, 32, and his elder brother Shambhu Singh, residents of Neema village near Dhanarawa in rural Patna, were shot dead by bike-borne assailants. The victims are the brothers of Chitranjan Kumar Sharma, a former BJP MLA from Arwal constituency and former Pandav Sena member.
The police said that Abhiram is Chitranjan’s uncle, while Singh allegedly hatched a conspiracy to eliminate them. “In this case, Singh was arrested from Ranchi by a SF team and a rifle, a magazine, 21 live rounds, four mobile phones and two electronic devices were found in his possession. He was sent to jail,” he added.
Singh is a resident of Neema village in rural Patna. He formed the Pandav Sena after separating from Ranvir Sena, another organized crime syndicate.
During Rabri Devi’s rule in 2000, the Pandav Sena was mainly active in Jehanabad, Arwal, rural Patna and parts of Jaya Nalanda and Purnia. In 2004, the police arrested the gang members along with Singh’s wife and sent them to judicial custody in Bor prison. The police also seized advanced weapons from their possession.
Patna SSP Kartikei K Sharma said that the police will take Singh in remand to recover the AK-47 assault rifle case.
