Hardened criminal Ratan Das alias Jaga was found dead on Saturday at Kurunthiapada under the Kamadha police station in Baleswar district.
It was suspected that he was killed by some miscreants late on Friday night. Reports said he had a brawl with some people while he was collecting protection money.
His body was found lying on the road in a pool of blood. Police along with a forensic team reached the scene and started an investigation into the incident after sending the body for postmortem.
Notably, a number of dacoity, possession of illegal arms and extortion cases are pending against Jaga at the Kamardha and Jaleswar police stations in the district. Besides, a criminal case is also pending against him at a police station in Goa.