A 40-year-old woman was arrested along with her “lover” and another man allegedly for killing her husband in central Delhi’s Daryaganj area, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Zeeba Qureshi, a resident of Daryaganj, Shoaib, 29, a resident of Meerut in UP, and Vinit Goswami, 29, a resident of Ghaziabad in UP, they said.
Zeeba wanted to get rid of her husband, Moinuddin Qureshi, police said.
Qureshi, 47, was shot dead in Daryaganj on May 17 around 10 pm when he was urinating outside gate number 3 of Khalsa School, police said.
During investigation, police drew a conjecture on the basis of the white motorcycle used in the murder that the shooters may have belonged to UP.
The motorcycle was found abandoned near Tara Hotel, Daryaganj, and was found to have been stolen from Meerut upon verification, a senior police officer said.
Later, with more proof in hand, police arrested the three accused, including the wife of the victim, Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) Shweta Chauhan said.
Zeeba has two sons and a daughter. Her husband was a real estate dealer.
She was not happy with her husband and wanted to get rid of him and marry someone else, the DCP said.
She had come in contact with Shoaib through Facebook two years ago and began seeing him, the officer said.
During their affair, Zeeba convinced Shoaib to kill her husband and marry her, Chauhan said.
They both planned the murder for five months, during which Shoaib hired Goswami, who agreed to kill Moinuddin for ₹ 6 lakh, police said.
Goswami and Shoaib did a recce at instance of Zeeba, who supplied important information using the ‘about feature’ of WhatsApp, they said.
Goswami tried to kill Moinuddin many times on tip-offs shared with him by Shoaib through Zeeba, but didn’t find success.
Since Zeeba was pressing hard upon Shoaib to kill her husband and to marry her at the earliest, Shoaib and Goswami went to Meerut and arranged for a stolen bike, police said.
He asked Goswami to come on May 17 along with a firearm, police said.
Goswami returned on May 17 and shot Moinuddin at a very close range. Both, Shoaib and Goswami, fled on the stolen bike after the hit, the DCP said.
Shoaib, a health supplement trader, had got married around four years ago and has one son.
He was found to be involved in three criminal cases, police said.
A stolen motorcycle, a country-made pistol, and ₹ 3 lakh were recovered from the accused, they added.
