The wife of a doctor, who was found dead at his home here on June 12, was arrested in connection with his killing, police said on June 17.

Dr Shafatullah Khan, a deputy director with the state Health Department, was found dead in his home in Omti area in Jabalpur on June 12 with multiple stab wounds on his chest. Superintendent of Police (SP) Shashikant Shukla said that investigations had revealed that the deceased's wife, Ayesha, had allegedly conspired, along with four others, to kill Dr Khan.

"The accused hired her niece and her niece's husband, and two other contract killers to carry out the crime," Shukla said. The official said that Ayesha had promised to pay Nandini and Pawan Rs 5 lakh and a flat for killing Khan. "The killers reached Jabalpur on June 12 and had a meeting with Ayesha at Tagore Garden on the night Khan was killed," he said.

He said that the niece, during questioning, gave answers which had discrepancies and this led to the unravelling of the conspiracy. While the women were arrested yesterday from Jabalpur, one of the hired killers was caught from Bisankhedi in Madhya Pradesh's Shujalpur district. The niece's husband and ther other killer are on the run and efforts were on to nab them, he added.

Talking to the media after her arrest, the wife alleged that Khan was a "womaniser" and claimed that she had only planned to cut the deceased's private parts and not kill him. She claimed that it was niece and her husband who insisted on killing Khan.