Cuttack: Police arrested a criminal on Monday in connection with the murder of two youths in November 2013.
Police Commissioner Soumendra Priyadarshi told the media that the accused, Pradeep Sahoo alias Dilu, was arrested by a team of Chauliaganj Police from Rayagada.
Police have seized a country-made pistol, six bullets and three mobile phones from his possession.
The commissioner said Dilu is an associate of gangsters Dhalasamant brothers. He had been absconding for more than five years.
The incident had taken place on November 12, 2013, when the gang members of Dhalasamant brothers took two of their fellow members, Dipak Mallick alias Dipu and Om, to a farmhouse near Anshupa lake on the outskirts of Athagarh in Cuttack district and murdered them.
Later, the bodies of the two youths were taken to an area in West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand and burnt with petrol.
Police later recovered the half-burnt bodies.
With Dilu. eight persons have been arrested in this case so far.
