Thane: The wife of a local businessman and three other persons were arrested in connection with his murder in Thane's Bhiwandi town, police said on Tuesday.
The victim, Dileep Kundanmal Jain (40), an electric shop owner residing at Kasar Ali in Bhiwandi, was murdered by some persons in the wee hours of May 24 before they decamped with cash and jewellery worth Rs 1.25 lakhs, inspector Shailendra Nagarkar of Bhiwandi police crime branch said.
Later, Dileep's wife Payal Jain (35) filed a complaint with local police that some miscreants had entered into their house who killed her husband and took away the valuables.
The police, during probe in the case, examined the CCTV footage of a nearby location and based on the clues gathered from it, a police team was sent to Rajasthan.
Based on further clues, the police arrested the killers - Ratanlal alias Ratan Mulchand Kothari (39) and Sohansingh Hemantsingh Rajput (28) - on Sunday from Virar, Nagarkar said.
Both of them latter confessed to the crime, he said.
On the basis of information provided by them, police arrested Payal from her residence and her maid servant Manjula Mukeshkumar Gomatilal (35) from Rajasthan for allegedly hatching the conspiracy and hiring the men to kill Dileep, he said.
Police are on the lookout of another accused in the case, Pappu alias Laxman, a grocery shop in Rabodi of Thane city who is the brother of the maid servant, he said.
Nagarkar said the couple frequently quarrelled over various issues and Payal apparently eyed the property of her father-in-law in Rajasthan.
She decided to get rid of her husband and hence arranged for his 'contract killing' with the help of her maid, the latter's brother and two other killers, he said.
She promised the killers to pay them Rs 10 lakhs, but they got only Rs one lakh after the execution of the crime.
Meanwhile, the accused have been booked under Sections 302 (murder), 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 341 (wrongful restraint) read with 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC, police said.
The accused have been remanded in police custody for a week, they added.
