In a dramatic twist, a year-old murder case in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut was reopened after a contract killer, out on bail, approached the police over unpaid dues for his role in the crime, police said on Friday. Neeraj Sharma, the alleged hired assassin, claimed he was promised Rs 20 lakh by the conspirators to kill lawyer Anjali Garg last year, yet most of the amount remains unpaid.

Anjali Garg, a resident of Umesh Vihar Colony in Meerut's TP Nagar area, was fatally shot by two men on June 7, 2023, while returning home. Initial investigations led the police to take her divorced husband and in-laws into custody due to an ongoing property dispute, although they were later released. 

The dispute centered around a house under her ex-husband Nitin Gupta's name, which his family sold to Yashpal and Suresh Bhatia, despite Garg’s refusal to vacate, NDTV reported.

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Subsequent investigations uncovered that Yashpal and Bhatia had allegedly hired Sharma and two others to execute the murder for Rs 2 lakh. Five individuals, including the property buyers, Sharma and the gunmen, were arrested, the report stated.

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Now, Sharma, who secured bail, claims that the in-laws and ex-husband were directly involved, initially paying him Rs 1 lakh with a promise of Rs 19 lakh upon completion. However, after his release, Sharma approached the in-laws for the remaining payment, which was refused. The contract killer has submitted call recordings as evidence and demanded that police register a case against Garg’s in-laws.