A former sarpanch of a village in Sonipat has been arrested in connection with the murder of a doctor in Gurugram’s Sohna seven years ago, the police said.

Sarpanch Dharambir allegedly had illicit relations with the deceased’s wife since they were in college together and had hired contract killers for ₹25 lakh to get the job done, they said.

Maha Singh, a resident of Nuh’s Manuwas village, was pulling the shutters of his clinic near Sohna’s Silani Chowk on August 7, 2012, when unidentified men had shot him.

Breakthrough in the case

The investigation into the murder case was handed over to the State Crime Branch.

Mr. Dharambir, the prime suspect, was interrogated several times, but the case remained unsolved.

However, the breakthrough in the case came a month ago when the Sohna Crime Branch, which took up the investigation into the matter, arrested Rizwan (34), a resident of Gannaur in Sonipat, on February 20.

Rizwan revealed two names —Vikram and Jaideep — during interrogation, leading to two more arrests in the case. All the three were involved in the murder of the doctor, the police said.

Raju, the fourth accused, was arrested on March 30.

A resident of Paldi Khurd, Raju had allegedly stolen the motorcycle used in the commission of the murder and handed it over to the contract killers.

It was revealed during interrogation of the accused that the deceased’s wife Rekha and Mr. Dharambir, both residents of Ahir Majra village in Sonipat, had illicit relations since their college days in 2009. Rekha got married to Singh in 2010, but continued to stay in touch with the sarpanch.

Repeated run-ins

Mr. Dharambir allegedly had an argument with Singh over talking to Rekha after the latter had visited his in-laws after the marriage.

The two also had a scuffle on the day of the wedding of Rekha’s sister, four months before the murder.

The doctor, who sustained injuries in the incident, had threatened to teach Mr. Dharambir a lesson. The sarpanch then paid ₹2 lakh in advance to the contract killers to murder the doctor, the police said.

Mr. Dharambir was arrested in Kaithal on April 1 and remanded to police custody by the court till Thursday.