An alleged contract killer believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 150 people has been arrested in India following a manhunt lasting more than a decade.

Jaggu Pehelwan was detained by armed police in the city of Ghaziabad, in the poor and lawless northern state of Uttar Pradesh, on Monday night. Five shots were fired during his arrest but no one was hurt.

Pehelwan, the leader of one of the most notorious criminal gangs in the city, has been formally charged with 30 murders over a 15-year criminal career and police believe he is responsible for around 130 more. Victims have included his own gang members suspected of disloyalty, rival criminals and scores of others, whom Pehelwan is accused of killing for cash.

"Though he is officially wanted for 100 murder cases, he is suspected of killing nearly 165 people," Anil Kaparwan, the police officer who arrested the fugitive, told local reporters.

The case has revealed the deep problems of India's law enforcement and justice system, where criminals routinely intimidate or bribe witnesses and judges. Kaparwan said that obtaining a conviction and getting his detainee imprisoned could be difficult.

"There are hardly any witnesses [prepared to testify] against him," he told the Mail Today newspaper.

Pehelwan charged between £12,500 and £32,500 to kill, officials said, and had recently done a deal for two dozen murders for £200,000. Targets included a telecoms operator, a building contractor and a local party activist.

He comes from a village near Ghaziabad and is believed to be in his mid-30s. He reportedly committed his first contract killing in 1998. The victim was a businessman in Delhi.

Pehelwan is accused of murdering a hotel owner in 2003 and two property developers and a transport contractor in 2008. Last month he is alleged to have killed a local councillor in his neighbourhood.

Officials said those who had commissioned the killings would now be tracked down and brought to justice.

Pehelwan ranged over hundreds of miles in the north-west, but his base remained Ghaziabad. Like many wealthy criminals in India, he apparently hoped to use his riches to move into politics, a favoured means of laundering earnings, bolstering power and accessing lucrative contracts.

His wife was elected – unopposed – as head of his local council. Pehelwan himself was reported to have hoped to stand in local state elections next year.