Representative image.

GREATER NOIDA: In a crime which has left even the police shocked, a 45-year old woman allegedly gave contract to get rid of her 22-year-old son who had been objecting to her illegitimate relationship with a self-styled baba. Cops said on Friday they have arrested Suresh Devi, her lover Kanhaiya, her son-in-law Amit Kumar and two contract killers for the murder of Ashul in Dadri's Luharli village last month.

Ashul was found dead under mysterious circumstances near Kot Canal in Dadri on the night of June 18. Some local people spotted the body and informed police. A subsequent autopsy revealed he had been strangled. Though it was initially a blind case, cops grew suspicious over the family members' lack of interest in the investigation. And upon sustained interrogation, Suresh Devi broke down and confessed to having hired the contract killers for Rs 35,000 to eliminate her son.

Her partners in the crime were 70-year-old Kanhaiya and her son-in-law who had hatched the plot and roped in three contract killers - Sachin (25), Satyandra (28) and Amit (26) - from his native Raipur Bangar village, cops said.

Nishank Sharma, circle officer of Dadri, said Ashul lived with his parents - Suresh Devi and Satish Kumar - and a younger brother, Dipashu (12), in Luharli village. Ashul's elder sister is married to Amit Kumar. "The woman told us that she met Kanhaiya from the neighbouring Deri Machcha village four years ago. The baba used to frequent their house on the pretext of performing rituals and stayed overnight. Once Ashul caught his mother in a compromising position with Kanhaiya," another police officer said.

According to police, Ashul often had fights with his mother over her illicit relationship with Kanhaiya. "Fed up with her son's behaviour, the woman consulted Kanhaiya and decided to kill Ashul. The woman informed her son-in-law who hatched the plot and hired the three killers," he added. On that fateful night, Amit had asked Ashul to accompany him on a bike to buy a washing machine, but instead dropped him at a deserted location where the three hired goons were waiting. "The criminals befriended Ashul and then offered him soft drinks laced with sedatives. When he lost his consciousness, the three strangled him to death and fled," Sharma said.

