Gurugram: Seven years after a doctor was allegedly shot dead in Sohna, the police have arrested the main suspect, Dharambir, a former sarpanch of Ahir Majra village in Sonipat. The accused had allegedly given ₹25 lakh contract to a group for the murder, said the police. The police stated that the former sarpanch held a grudge against the doctor as he had illicit relations with the victim’s wife, whom he knew since college.

Dr Maha Singh was allegedly shot dead by some people on August 7, 2012, in Silani village in Sohna. A case had been registered and following investigations by the state crime branch, an ‘untraced’ report was filed in 2015.

Shamsher Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Crime, stated that the case was reopened in 2019 after Mohammad Akil, the Commissioner of Police, took over and asked the police to investigate the untraced cases. Following this, the case file was marked to the Sohna crime branch. The police arrested four persons, Rizwan, Vikram, Jaydeep and Raju, from Sonipat in February and March 2019.

Singh said that the suspects mentioned that Dharambir gave them a contract to kill the doctor, and paid rupees 2 lakh as advance. Dharambir showed them the location of the doctor’s workplace and identified him.

Dharambir was arrested on Monday from a primary school in Kaithal where he had been teaching since 2016. He revealed that he became acquainted with the victim’s wife while they were studying in the same college in Sonipat in 2008-09. While she got married to the doctor in 2010, she had an affair with Dharambir, leading to discord between him and the doctor.

The police mentioned that Dharambir and Maha Singh had fought on two occasions, including at the wedding of Maha Singh’s sister-in-law. Subash Boken, spokesperson, city police, said that there was a dispute on April 25, 2012 and Dharambir called the police. Maha Singh was injured and was taken to a hospital, where both had an argument, following which Dharambir had vowed revenge.

The police said that the victim’s wife was unaware of the conspiracy to murder her husband.