JOIN USMan hires contract killers to murder son-in-law, 6 held
A 28-year-old man, who married a woman from Meerut in 2009 against her father’s wishes, was shot dead at south-west Delhi’s Sagarpur last week by contract killers.The killers were hired by the victim’s father-in-law, police said on Monday.
According to additional commissioner of police (south-west) Anil Kumar Ojha, 28-year-old Ashok Kumar was killed over strained relations with his in-laws following his marriage with Seema.
Her 58-year-old father, Satpal Singh, had hired the contract killers for Rs 2 lakh, and had already paid Rs 50,000.
Police have arrested Satpal and the five killers — Kanwar Neeraj, 41, Dinesh Kumar, 42, Amit Gupta, 33, Punit, 20 and Ankit Sharma, 22.
“They were held from Sagarpur. Ashok was shot in his chest on December 16. He was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, where he succumbed to injuries,” Ojha said.
Ashok married Seema against Satpal’s wish three years ago. “The love marriage had led to strained relations between Ashok and his in-laws, though after the marriage the woman’s family had accepted her decision,” Ojha added.
A girl was also born from the wedlock, following which Ashok kept taunting them over the love marriage issue. This enraged several members of his in-laws in Meerut, due to which they decided to kill him.
Satpal had come to Delhi recently to hire the contract killers. They observed that Ashok travelled towards Sagarpur railway crossing between Delhi Cantonment and Palam every morning.
“Finding the right moment, they executed their plan and shot at him near the railway crossing at 9.30 am on December 16,” Ojha said.
A call was made to the police control room, but no witnesses were found.
Initially, there was no clue about the culprits involved, so local enquiries were made by police. During investigation, it came to light that Ashok had strained relations with his in-laws.
“Accordingly, his relatives were interrogated at length, who gave a different version each time. The statements, however, were contradicted by the circumstantial evidence collected,” Ojha said.
The needle of suspicion pointed towards Satpal’s involvement, due to which police kept track of his movement. On Saturday, police got specific information that Satpal would come to meet the contract killers in Sagarpur.
“They were arrested, and Satpal confessed to his involvement as well,” Ojha said.
A country-made pistol, two knives and an air pistol have been recovered.