Lucknow, Nov 20 (IANS): The wife and her brother have been arrested for the murder of a quartermaster of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), Satish Kumar Singh, 45, who was shot dead outside his house in Manasnagar under Krishna Nagar police station here on the night of Diwali on November 12.

The murder was a result of his illicit relations with another woman.

The officials said the wife of the deceased Bhavna Singh, 40, with the help of her brother Devendra Kumar Sharma, 35, got the killing executed to get rid of physical and mental harassment that she faced from her husband for opposing his illicit relations.

Bhavna and Devendra were arrested on Sunday after police claimed to have gathered sufficient evidence against them.

Police recovered a firearm used in the crime and other things including a GPS tracker installed secretly in the car of the deceased to track his location.

Lucknow’s deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Vineet Jaiswal said five police teams scanned through 400 CCTV footage to track the assailant’s movement and identify the person who executed the crime.

“During interrogation, Devendra Kumar Sharma, the key accused and a resident of Prag Narain road, Hazratganj, confessed that the deceased had illicit relations with many women. Bhavna, who got married to Satish in 2011, objected to this relationship,” the DCP said.

Subsequently, Devendra said he decided to eliminate his brother-in-law after securing the consent of his sister, he said.

The DCP said the two accused installed a GPS tracker in Satish’s car to remain updated with his location on his mobile phone and then Sharma purchased a country-made firearm and a pistol to execute the crime.

“On the day of the incident, Devendra reached the spot on a bicycle wearing a cap and mask to conceal identity. He left his mobile phone at home to avoid being tracked through electronic surveillance. As soon as Satish arrived at his house and was opening the door of his house, Devendra opened fire at him. His wife along with their daughter was present in the car and was aware about the entire conspiracy,” the DCP said.

He said Sharma returned to his Hazratganj house after disposing of the firearms in Kanausi canal and left the bicycle in the narrow lanes of Chowk.

He hired an e-rickshaw and walked down for some distance to avoid getting noticed in CCTVs cameras installed on the roads.

He also asked his nephew at his home to keep using his mobile and order food from an online application to ensure that the mobile location was traced to his home at the time when the crime was executed.

The DCP said the police had recovered firearms, clothes, bicycle and a phone having the entire GPS location of the car of the deceased as key evidence.