Arvind Ramvilas Trivedi (46), alias Guddan, an associate of slain gangster Vikas Dubey, was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad from Kolshet road in Thane, along with his 30-year-old driver Sushilkumar Suresh Tiwari alias Sonu.

Trivedi was wanted by the Kanpur police in the case where eight policemen were killed by Vikas Dubey and his associates in the intervening night of July 2 and July 3 at Bikru village near Kanpur. Vikas Dubey, who was absconding after the incident was arrested from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, and was killed in an encounter by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh police early on Friday morning.

Gangster Vikas Dubey had around 60 criminal cases registered against him.

Preliminary enquiry by the Maharashtra ATS has revealed that Trivedi along with his driver had fled the state soon after the incident. “Trivedi was involved in many cases along with Dubey including the murder of Uttar Pradesh minister Santosh Shukla in 2001. The Uttar Pradesh government had also announced a reward for his arrest,” said encounter specialist and police inspector Daya Nayak, who based on specific intelligence arrested Trivedi.

Santosh Shukla was murdered in 2001 inside the Shivli police station in Kanpur by Vikas Dubey and his associates, a case which had seen 25 policemen, who were eyewitness to the murder, turn hostile in court.