The wife and four daughters of an Indian policeman have been accused of hiring assassins to murder him for his £88,000 pension, and because he refused to let them wear jeans.
The bloody corpse of Meharbaan Ali, a sub-inspector, was discovered dumped in a sewage canal in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, just 250 metres from the family home on Sunday.
Police arrested Zahida Begum, 52, and her daughters Saba, 26, Zeenat, 22, Iram, 19, and Alia, 18, at their house in Shahjahanpur after the women confessed to hiring two contract killers to murder him.
After Ali's body was found, an investigation was launched, with police saying that significant clues from close circuit cameras installed at the location helped them crack the case.
Daya Chand Sharma, Inspector at Sadar Bazaar police station, said the mother and daughters were upset with the strict restrictions Ali had imposed upon them, including banning them from wearing jeans.
He said: 'Ever since the body of Ali was found, we suspected the involvement of family members, because the body was found just 250 metres from their house.
'We took out the call detail records of all the family members and found that Ali's wife, Zahida, was regularly calling a number.'
The police investigation established that the victim had arrived home at 10.45am, after leaving the police station at 10am on Saturday.
Zahida Begum, 52, being arrested by police in India after confessing to hiring two contract killers to kill her husband Meharbaan Ali in Uttar Pradesh, northern India
Insp Sharma added: 'Contract killers Tahseen and Ehsaan, who were called for his murder, were seen entering Ali's house soon after and at around 1pm Ali was killed.
'The same evening after dark the contract killers again came to his house and with the help of his family members, took Ali in their motorcycle and dumped his body near a canal.
'A massive investigation operation was launched and all the CCTV cameras were checked for the recordings. Important clues were found in the video recordings that helped us solving the case.
'After that we confronted the women, who confessed to the crime.'
The women allegedly hired Tehseen and Qasim for £1,100. Half of the amount was paid from Ali's salary that was kept in cash at home while the remainder was promised to be given after the 'task' was completed.
Zahida Begum (second from right, partly obscured) and her four daughters Saba, Zeenat, Iram and Alia after being arrested by police in India after confessed to hiring two contract killers to kill Meharbaan Ali for his pension and his strict rules about wearing jeans
Police said Zahida was hoping to get £88,000 from the funds the dependents of policemen receive after their death.
They claim his daughters, who were unhappy with their father's strict restrictions of not wearing jeans, connived in the crime in the hope one of them would secure a job replacing their father at the police station.
Additional superintendent of the city police, Dinesh Tripathi, said: 'There were three benefits which the family would have got after Ali's death.
'First, one of his daughters would have got a job in his place in the department.
'Second, his widow would have got the pension, which is half the salary.
'Moreover, the family would have got the funds which dependents of policemen get on the demise of the latter.'
The contract killers, who police said were involved in many other serious crimes in nearby areas and were on the run, were arrested on Wednesday.
