Folk singer murder: Live- in partner suspected her of infidelity, was unhappy with her career

Greater Noida: The live-in partner of the folk singer, who had been shot dead on October 1 outside her housing society in the Beta 2 area, has allegedly admitted

Greater Noida: The live-in partner of the folk singer, who had been shot dead on October 1 outside her housing society in the Beta 2 area, has allegedly admitted to the crime and said he suspected her of having other relationships and was unhappy with her career.

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The victim Sushma (25) lived in Mitra Society, an area under the jurisdiction of Sector Beta 2 police station. She was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne assailants when she had reached her society around 8pm on October 1, in a Maruti Suzuki Brezza.

Six people had been arrested in connection with the murder. The prime suspect, Gajendra Bhati, Sushma’s live-in partner, who hails from Aminabad village of Uttar Pradesh, had roped in a Bulandshahr-based man, Pramod (single name), to kill the woman. The hit contract was given for ₹8 lakh, police said.

“The planning for the murder had been going on for nearly six months. Their initial plan was to frighten the woman into giving up her career but when that didn’t happen, they decided to kill her. Bhati had paid Pramod ₹3.9 lakh in advance, of which he paid ₹90,000 to the two sharpshooters he had hired,” Kumar Rannvijay Singh, superintendent of police (rural), said.

Bhati, a property dealer by profession, and Sushma had been in a relationship since 2016 and were living together at the Mitra society since 2017, in a house owned by Bhati. The couple also has a son who will turn two next month. Sushma had a daughter from her marriage which ended in a divorce in 2015, while Bhati has three children with his wife, who live in his village. According to police, there were multiple reasons as to why he wanted to get rid of Sushma.

“Her career was one of the main reasons. He had trouble with her social life and interactions with other men and also wanted her to give up singing. He has also claimed that she was pressuring him to will the Mitra society house in which they were living in their son’s name,” Singh said.

Police also said during the initial interrogation, Bhati had stressed too much on the fact that he and Sushma had been in touch constantly on the day of the incident and he had also lied about his location which was confirmed by his phone records. That is when police started questioning his role.

Bhati had allegedly attempted to end his own life on February 13 owing to domestic troubles and it was only after his recovery that he mentioned his problems to Ajab Singh, who was from his native village. SIngh in turn suggested that he kill Sushma and introduced him to Pramod.

Sushma was attacked on August 19 when she was on her way home from Bulandshahr. Her car was damaged in that attack, but she escaped.

“Pramod was the organiser of that function and he had lured her there. The two had an argument over payment after the event was allegedly cancelled. After the attack, she had filed a case against him at the Bulandshahr police station. The idea of the attack was to deter her from performing further. But after police started questioning Pramod, Bhati decided to end kill Sushma,” the SP said.

Pramod and the two shooters took on rent an apartment in Ansal society near her house to keep a close eye on her movements. On October 1, she had gone to Bulandhshar to visit police. While she was returning, Bhati was in constant touch with her to keep a track of her location.

“He was then passing on this information to Pramod and as soon as she reached home, she was shot dead,” the SP said.

Police said it was through the CCTV footage that they were able to zero in on the shooters, Mukesh and Sandeep. They were injured in an encounter with Noida police on Sunday night.

“Mukesh has an extensive criminal record. He has been booked in three cases of dacoity. So far, we have identified a total of 25 cases against him of robbery, attempt to murder etc. Sandeep also has cases against him in Ghaziabad,” said the SP.

The sixth suspect, Amit Singh, is Bhati’s driver for the past two years and was a part of the conspiracy, police said. Police have recovered the Fortuner SUV which the shooters were using and the murder weapon.