Contract killers make a killing in city

The trend of hiring contract killers seems to be on the rise among the perpetrators of crime in the city. The involvement of contract killers was alleged in Thursday's killing of Hyatpur sarpanch Rakesh Yadav.

The trend of hiring contract killers seems to be on the rise among the perpetrators of crime in the city. The involvement of contract killers was alleged in Thursday's killing of Hyatpur sarpanch Rakesh Yadav.

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The incident which was followed by the lynching of one of the two assailants sent shock waves in the area.

Vikram, Yadav's cousin, said that his brother's killer was hired for Rs 1 lakh.

Since December, this is the third incident involving contract killers. In December 2010, Nargis Juneja, the director of Kidzee School in DLF Phase-4, was allegedly killed by hired killers in her house.

In April, Virender, alias Binder Gurjar, was also attacked by some hired assailants.

Virender, who was elected councillor from Ward 21 latter, escaped the attack.

“The trend of contract killing is picking up. In April, I was attacked by contract killers. Despite serious injuries, I survived but my friend Anil Kakkra lost his life,” the councillor said, adding that incidents of murder are increasing because there is no check on the issuance of arms licences.

Meanwhile, about the sarpanch's murder, the city police said it is two early to draw any conclusion.

“We are probing the case and we cannot say they were contract killers. Investigations are on and we cannot comment anything yet,” said joint commissioner of police Alok Mittal.

He said it is improper to relate all murder or attempt to murder cases. ‘All cases are different. There is no relation between them so it would be unfair to connect the cases.”