Police said the deceased's wife took her niece's help. (Representational)
The wife of a doctor, who was found dead at his home in Jabalpur on June 12, was arrested in connection with his killing, police said on Sunday.
Dr Shafatullah Khan, a deputy director with the state Health Department, was found dead in his home in Omti area in Jabalpur on June 12 with multiple stab wounds on his chest.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Shashikant Shukla said that investigations had revealed that the deceased's wife, Ayesha, had allegedly conspired, along with four others, to kill Dr Khan.
"Ayesha, who had a love marriage with Dr Khan in 1991, had told her niece Nandini Vishwakarma (30), a resident of Gujarat, to hire contract killers to eliminate her husband. Nandini, in turn, conspired with her husband Pawan Vishwakarma (32) and two contract killers Rajendra Malviya (23) and Dhiraj to carry out the crime," Mr Shukla said.
The official said that Ayesha had promised to pay Nandini and Pawan Rs 5 lakh and a flat for killing Khan.
"Nandini, Pawan, and the two contract killers reached Jabalpur on June 12 and had a meeting with Ayesha at Tagore Garden on the night Khan was killed," he said.
He said that Nandini, during questioning, gave answers which had discrepancies and this led to the unravelling of the conspiracy.
While Ayesha and Nandini were arrested on Saturday from Jabalpur, Rajendra was caught from Bisankhedi in Madhya Pradesh's Shujalpur district.
Pawan Vishwakarma and Dhiraj are on the run and efforts were on to nab them, he added.
Talking to the media after her arrest, Ayesha alleged that Dr Khan was a "womaniser" and claimed that she had only planned to cut the deceased's private parts and not kill him. She claimed that it was Nandini and Pawan who insisted on killing her husband.