Ghaziabad, Mar 2 (IANS): The Ghaziabad police Saturday claimed to have cracked the sensational murder case of ruling Samajwadi Party leader and lawyer Yashveer Singh that occurred Feb 25.

Superintendent of Police Shiv Shankar Yadav said that the main accused, Mithhan Yadav, who surrendered before the Bulandshahr court, has been arrested, along with three others accused of the murder.

The three others have been identified as Lala, Manoj and Kapil.

The main accused, Mithhan Yadav, said that he had plotted to kill Yashveer as he felt deeply humiliated that he had slapped Yadav's mother in public last year. Yadav confessed that 11 persons were involved in the murder.

The arrested men were held from near a water tank between Bamheta and Girdharpur localities.

Police recovered two licensed fire arms, including a rifle and a revolver, from Yadav. The superintendent of police refuted reports in sections of the media that firearms were found abandoned in agricultural fields on the day of the crime.

Yashveer had been murdered in his house at Bamheta here about 11 a.m. Monday by a gang of about 10 armed men, who stuck the security guard on his head and caused him to lose consciousness before barging into the house and opening fire at the politician.

Lawyers of Ghaziabad, angry that a crime could be committed so blatantly, had observed a strike for three days to protest the negligence of Ghaziabad police in the murder of Yashveer Yadav.

More than 500 lawyers had barged into the office of the superintendent of police and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits in the case.

On the day of the crime, it came to light that firearms licenced to the lawyer-politician were missing from his house.