Jaipur: It’s a plot that could be beyond the imagination of the most imaginative movie scriptwriters.
In a crime which is bound to shock anyone with the right senses and sensibility, a 23-year-old woman in Jaipur staged the murder of her own mother to secure a government job and get control of family property.
According to police, Ayushi Sharma conspired with her uncle and cousin to hire a contract killer – paying them Rs 7 lakh — and got them to run over her mother with a Scorpio SUV.
Ayushi then told everyone that her mother, 45-year-old Neeraj Sharma, was killed in a road accident.
The victim, who worked as a lower division clerk (LDC) in a court, was killed on July 3 in Jaipur’s Pratap Nagar area.
According to police, Neeraj was returning home after dropping her son at a coaching centre when a Scorpio, travelling at around 130 kmph, rammed
her. Flung high into the air, she was killed on the spot. The driver managed to flee with the vehicle after the ‘accident’.
On examining CCTV footage, investigators found evidence which aroused suspicion that the collision was not an accident.
The case was cracked within a few days, with police describing it as a conspiracy involving several family members and hired assailants.
DCP East Ranjita Sharma said following her husband’s death a year ago, the victim got a job on compassionate grounds, and joined as an LDC.
Police said Ayushi had wanted the government job after her father’s death, but her mother took up the appointment. There was also a property dispute between the mother and daughter for quite some time.
Ayushi hatched a plan with her uncle Mohan Swaroop and cousin Balram aka Ravi to get her mother eliminated. The trio hired Bharatpur resident Hemant Sharma, who was assisted by four others to carry out the murder.
It was Neeraj’s brother Rakesh Kumar Sharma who lodged a police complaint, expressing his apprehension that it may not have been an accident. He told investigators that Neeraj had previously complained about being harassed by her daughter and members of her in-laws’ family over property-related issues. He also claimed that she had received threats to her life on several occasions.
Ayushi confessed about the crime during repeated questioning.
Police have arrested seven people, including Ayushi, her uncle, the killers. Her cousin remains absconding.