A 34-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly trying to kill a man in Dwarka, the police said on Wednesday. The accused, they said, suspected that the victim was in a relationship with the former’s wife.

The accused, identified as Jitender alias Jitu, was also incurring loss after he had stopped working in partnership with the victim, the police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said that the accused, a resident of Najafgarh, and his accomplices Rajbir and Santosh allegedly fired at Nabodh Kumar (21) on June 10 in Jafarpur Kalan. They also injured him with a knife, but Nabodh managed to escape.

The police said that on June 10, they received an information that a man had been stabbed and fired at. The victim later told the police that he had been attacked by Jitender and his accomplices.

An investigation was taken up. Santosh was arrested on June 15, but the other two accused remained absconding. Jitender was finally arrested on Tuesday, when he had come to take his family to flee to Mumbai, the police said.

During interrogation, Jitender said that he and his wife had come to Delhi from UP around eight years ago. He started working as a mason and Nabodh was his neighbour. “Jitender and Nabodh began taking contracts for smaller masonry works in partnership. Jitender said he suspected that Nabodh and his wife were in a relationship. This led to the end of their partnership,” Mr. Aphonse said, adding that Jitender had started losing contracts due to Nabodh.

The accused then planned to eliminate Nabodh and gave the contract to Rajbir and Santosh, whom he promised to pay ₹50,000 for the job. On the day of the incident, the three accused lured Nabodh to an isolated spot. The four drank together and Rajbir then fired at the victim and Santosh attacked him with a knife. The victim, however, managed to flee and started shouting for help. The three panicked and fled the spot. Jitender had left his house with the family and was hiding in Noida and Jhansi before he was caught, the police said.

Mr. Alphonse also said that Jitender left his wife and children at a railway station in Jhansi promising them that he would return. However, when he failed to do so after a day, the wife came back to Delhi. “He contacted his wife later and on Tuesday, he had come to pick his family to flee to Mumbai, but was arrested,” the officer said.