Three men, aged 22 to 30 with no criminal records, were arrested on Sunday for the alleged contract killing of a 37-year-old businessman in the Welcome area of ​​northeast Delhi last week , for which they were promised ₹3 lakh and paid ₹20,000 as token currency, police said on Sunday.

After slitting the businessman’s throat, the three suspects made video of the bleeding victim as evidence that they had carried out the murder contract. They sent the video to the people who hired them, police added.

Their interrogation revealed that they had been hired by two brothers, Arif and Javed, of the business rival of the victim, Mukhtiyar, who was also murdered in his hometown of Budaun district in Uttar Pradesh in 2020, said the police.

“Arif and Javed suspected that the three hitmen arrested in their brother’s murder had been hired by the businessman, Bhure Khan, and that Khan had helped the killers fight the legal battle. In revenge for the murder of their brother, Arif and Javed hired their friend Arjun and promised to pay him ₹3 lakh if ​​he killed Khan. Arjun enlisted his two friends – 24-year-old Nitesh Singh and 30-year-old Monu Chauhan – to carry out the contract killing,” said a police officer familiar with the details of the case.

Singh, Chauhan and Arjun, 22, have been arrested and raids are underway to nab Arif and Javed, DCP (northeast) Sanjay Kumar Sain said. “A letter opener used in the murder, clothing worn by the suspects during the crime and ₹10,000 of the token money was recovered from the arrested men,” he added.