Jaipur, Mar 20 (IANS): Wanted criminal Arvind Kumar Soni, who cheated many people in Rajasthan on the pretext of getting them government jobs and was absconding for 8 years, has been arrested, police said on Tuesday.

Soni was arrested from the Barauni police station area of Tonk district on Monday night, said Additional Director General of Police, Crime, Dinesh M.N.

The accused was wanted for a long time for various cases of fraud in the Bundi, Bhilwara, Tonk, and other districts.

The Bundi police had announced a reward of Rs 5,000 for information leading to his arrest.

The ADG said that the teams, formed under the direction of DIG, Crime Yogesh Yadav and the supervision of Additional Superintendent of Police Vidya Prakash, were sent to different cities to collect information about wanted criminals, active members of criminal gangs, smugglers etc, and received a tip regarding Soni.

They came to know that Soni's wife lives in Tonk and he visited her on some occasions.

After confirming the information, on Monday, the Crime Branch team chased the accused from Jaipur and detained him from Tonk. A team from Bundi's Kotwali police station came on Tuesday and took him with them.

Sharing the history of the accused, the ADG said: "A case was registered against the accused at Kotwali police station in Bundi district for defrauding a young man of Rs 40,000 on the pretext of getting a government job for the post of junior clerk in 2016. In the same year, in Ratangarh Churu police station, a similar case was registered for embezzling Rs 2.26 lakh. Cases of cheating were also registered against the accused in Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, and Tonk. The accused is also wanted in Paroli police station of Shahpura district and Kotwali police station of Tonk in a similar case."