Bijnor,

25 Dec (HS): Four individuals, including a father and his two sons, have been

detained for allegedly employing contract assassins to murder a 25-year-old

relative over a suspected connection with a cousin, police said on Thursday. According

to Additional Superintendent of Police Dr Krishna Gopal Singh, Sameer (25), a

resident of Ahmad Khel Kiratpur village, was discovered dead beside a highway

in the Jalalabad district of Najibabad police station on December 21. A

post-mortem report revealed that he had been strangled to death. Dilshad,

Sameer's father, filed a FIR on December 23 against his brother Rafiq and his

sons Rahat and Rafat for planning to murder his son. During the investigation

and examination of electronic data, authorities discovered the participation of

another accused, Arshad. All four were arrested for interrogation.

According

to investigators, Sameer was in a relationship with his cousin despite her

family's repeated requests to cease it. Sameer was also alleged to be addicted

to narcotics. A few months ago, the girl's family allegedly engaged an occult

practitioner in Delhi named Jainul to remove Sameer. According to police,

Jainul requested Rs 20 lakh for the operation, with Rs 3 lakh in cash and Rs 2

lakh paid online in advance. According to police, Jainul constructed a phony

Instagram profile posing as a lady in order to seduce Sameer. On the night of

December 20, he summoned Sameer to Najibabad alongside Arshad and two others,

Arif and Saleem.

When

Sameer came on his motorbike, the accused strangled him to death with a muffler

and discarded his corpse by the roadside to make it look like an accident. Police

said they are looking for the absconding suspects Jainul, Arif, and Saleem.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi