A year-old murder case has been re-opened in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut after a hired killer, who is out on bail, approached the police for not being paid a ransom for the job, officials said on Friday. According to the police, the contract killer, Neeraj Sharma, was promised Rs 20 lakh by the conspirators to kill a lawyer, Anjali Garg last year, but now they have gone back on their word.

On June 7, 2023, Anjali, a resident of Umesh Vihar Colony of TP Nagar police station in Meerut, was shot dead by two people while she was returning home from a dairy.

The police had initially taken the victim’s divorced husband and in-laws into custody as they were engaged in a property dispute. However, they were later released.

According to officials, the victim was living in the house which was under her ex-husband, Nitin Gupta’s name. Her in-laws later sold the property to Yashpal and Suresh Bhatia, but the victim was not ready to vacate the house – resulting in a dispute.

A few days into the murder, it was revealed the property buyers had hired Sharma and two others to kill Anjali over a contract of Rs two lakhs.

Five people, including Yashpal, Bhatia, Sharma, and the two killers who shot Anjali, were arrested.

Now, over a year later, Sharma – who was released on bail – revealed that the victim’s in-laws and husband were also involved in the killing.

The in-laws had promised a ransom of Rs 20 lakhs and had given Rs one lakh as an advance, he told the police. Sharma could not take the remaining Rs 19 lakh due to his arrest. However, now being out of jail, he approached the victim’s in-laws for the remaining amount, but they refused it, Sharma said.

According to the accused-turned-complainant, the police should take action and register a case against the victim’s in-laws.

He has also provided call recordings with the in-laws as a piece of evidence, the police said.