Arrested reel-life villain turns out to be real-life shooter in India

Patna: A murderer in real life was caught by the police playing the role of a “villain” in a Bhojpuri movie. The man who had been absconding for the past two years loved to play villain on screens, police said.

The accused, Sanjay Pandey who hails from Siwan district of Bihar, was arrested from Gorakhpur town in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh on Thursday evening, leaving other crew members shell-socked. They had no idea that the man with whom they had been working for long was also the real-life villain.

Acting on information that the villain had come to the film set with a real rifle in hand for shooting and any untoward incident could take place, a team of police rushed to the spot and caught the villain. Reports said the cops asked him to produce licence of the firearm but he failed to do so.

The police confiscated his gun and took him in for further inquiry. It was during the interrogation that he told the police that he had been absconding for the past two years after shooting dead his own uncle over a land dispute and had taken shelter in Gorakhpur district. He also told the police that he had been surviving by playing mostly villain roles in regional films.

“During interrogation, he confessed to killing his uncle but denied his hands in any criminal incident in Uttar Pradesh. We have confiscated his rifle and sent him to jail,” a local police official Ravi Rai told the media on Friday.

According to the police, the accused quit his home district in 2018 after his property was confiscated by the local Siwan police. Reports said initially he got involved in land brokerage business but of late he was taking much interest in playing role of villains in the movie from which he earned both fame and money.