Man gets father murdered after hiring killer through social media: MP

SHIVPURI: A man here in Madhya Pradesh allegedly got his 59-year-old father murdered for money after hiring a killer through Facebook, police said on Monday.

The victim, Mahesh Gupta, was shot dead on the intervening night of July 21-22 when he was sleeping in a room of his house in Pichhore town, about 75 km from the district headquarters, Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajesh Singh Chandel said.

The police have arrested three persons - Ajit Singh, the alleged killer hailing from Bihar, Gupta’s son Ankit (32) and the latter’s friend Nitin Lodhi - in connection with the case, he said.

The police suspected the role of Gupta’s son in the crime as he was sleeping on the ground floor of his house while his father was shot dead on the third floor, the official said.

Ankit’s interrogation and a probe into the case revealed he was angry with his father as the latter would refuse to give him money due to Ankit’s liquor addiction and involvement in gambling and other criminal activities, he said.

Ankit searched online and based on the information gathered, he contacted through Facebook a gang from Bihar named ‘Ajit King’ group for kidnapping and killing his father, promising to pay Rs 1 lakh for it, official said.

Lodhi allegedly arranged a country made pistol and cartridges which were used in the crime.

Ankit told the neighbours and police that some unidentified persons killed his father, the official said.

Singh was arrested from Gorakhpur railway station in Uttar Pradesh, while Ankit and Nitin Lodhi were arrested from Pichhore town here, he said.