A contract killer allegedly hired by the husband of a woman teacher who was shot dead in front of her five-year-old daughter outside a school in Kharar in Mohali district earlier this month was arrested on Saturday, police said.
The 40-year-old Jaswinder Singh was arrested from Bathinda district, Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Chahal told reporters here.
Sarabjit Kaur, in her early 30s, was shot dead when she was parking her scooter outside a school in Kharar on December 5. Her husband Harvinder Singh was the prime suspect in Kaur's murder.
Jaswinder, a native of Bathinda, was hired as contract killer allegedly by Harvinder for the murder of his wife, the SSP said.
Jaswinder was given Rs 1 lakh as advance while it was promised to him that the remaining Rs 5 lakh would be paid after the murder of Kaur, Chahal said.
A .32 bore licensed weapon, cartridges and a four-wheeler used in the crime were also recovered from Jaswinder's possession, he said.
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The SSP said both Jaswinder and Harvinder knew each other.
To a question, he said Harvinder was most probably outside the country and efforts were being made to trace him.
Another accomplice of Jaswinder has been identified and would soon be nabbed, the SSP said.
According to police, Kaur, who used to teach Punjabi and French at the private school, had lodged a complaint with police against Harvinder alleging that he did not tell her about his first marriage.
Harvinder had married Sarabjit seven years ago after which they lived in France for some time.
Police said the relation between the two became strained after Sarabjit came to know about Harvinder's first marriage some time back.