The plan to kill BJP leader Vijay Pandit, who was gunned down at Dadri in UP’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district on Saturday evening, may have been prepared inside the prison by a dreaded contract killer.

Police claimed on Monday that Pandit murder mystery could be cracked in the next few days. “The killers of Pandit have been identified,” said a senior police officer in Noida but refused to divulge any detail saying ‘it could affect the investigation’.

Teams had been sent to different places in the national capital region to nab the culprits, they said.

Police suspect that a dreaded contract killer might have planned the murder of Pandit and executed it by his accomplices. They also feel that Pandit could have been killed for opposing extortion.

Though police did not identify the contract killer, sources here said he could be Anil Dujana, who is a history sheeter and is currently lodged in Muzaffarnagar District Jail.

Pandit’s wife, who was the chairperson of Dadri Nagar Palika Parishad, had also alleged that Dujana was behind her husband’s murder. She has demanded a CBI probe into the killing. Dujana was now being shifted to some other jail after the district administration approached the court for his transfer to a distant jail.

“Dujana’s presence in Muzaffarnagar jail was a nuisance. It is suspected that he may have planned crimes while remaining in jail,” said a district official in Muzaffarnagar.

Tension continued to prevail in Dadri as BJP workers clashed with policemen on Monday when the latter tried to prevent them from burning the effigy of police.

Pandit was sprayed with bullets while he was returning home after visiting his brother’s shop in the area late on Saturday evening. The killers managed to escape leaving behind a motorcycle.