After 25 years of marriage, wife pays killer ₹6 lakh to murder husband

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Shweta Chauhan identified the accused as Zeeba Qureshi (40), the wife, her lover, Shoaib (29), and the contract killer, Vinit Goswami. The victim, Moinuddin Qureshi, a workshop owner, was shot dead on May 17 around 10pm in Daryaganj.

Married for the past 25 years, a woman allegedly hired a contract killer and paid him ₹6 lakh for the job, so that she could live with her 29-year-old lover who she had met online, the police said on Thursday, announcing the arrest of the three accused in the murder case that was reported on May 17.

Police said that Shoaib, the woman's lover, is a businessman from Meerut and Vinit Goswami, the contract killer, has three criminal cases registered against him in Uttar Pradesh. (GETTY IMAGES.)

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Shweta Chauhan identified the accused as Zeeba Qureshi (40), the wife, her lover, Shoaib (29), and the contract killer, Vinit Goswami. The victim, Moinuddin Qureshi, a workshop owner, was shot dead on May 17 around 10pm in Daryaganj.

The matter was reported to the police by Qureshi’s brother, Ruknuddin.

The DCP said the investigators checked over 500 videos of CCTV footage from the area, and examined more than 100 people. Of these, some were identified as suspects and technical surveillance was launched against them, based on which the three were arrested on Thursday, she said.

The DCP said that Zeba, during interrogation, told the police that she got married to Qureshi when she was a teenager, 25 years ago, and the couple have two sons and a daughter. “She alleged that Qureshi used to drink alcohol and spent time on flying kites. She said that she wanted to end the marriage. She also said that about two years ago, she met Shoaib on Facebook, and they started meeting. Zeba said she wanted to get married to Shoaib,” Chauhan said adding that Zeba allegedly instigated Shoaib to kill her husband.

Shoaib asked Vinit Goswami, an alleged contract killer, to murder Qureshi for a sum of ₹6 lakh. “The two conducted recce of the area and Goswami asked Shoaib to arrange an associate since it was a densely populated area and he could not kill Qureshi alone. However, Shoaib decided to help Goswami himself. On May 17, the two shot Qureshi, and fled on a bike,” the DCP said.

Police said that Shoaib is a businessman from Meerut and Goswami has three criminal cases registered against him in Uttar Pradesh.