Jaipur Police Bust Alleged Murder-For-Hire Plot, Daughter Accused Of Killing Mother For Job, Property

A routine road accident report from Jaipur has turned into a full-blown murder investigation, with police alleging that a woman conspired to have her own mother killed over a property dispute and a compassionate government job.

The incident took place on July 3 in the Pratap Nagar area of Jaipur, where Neeraj Sharma, a Lower Division Clerk posted at a local court, was struck by a speeding Scorpio SUV shortly after she dropped her son off at a coaching institute. The impact reportedly threw her nearly a hundred feet, and she died at the scene. Sharma had secured her court job under the compassionate appointment scheme following the death of her husband, Vijay Kumar Sharma, an arrangement meant to support the family after the loss of its primary earner.

What initially appeared to be a hit-and-run has since taken a darker turn. Investigators say inconsistencies in CCTV footage recovered from the area, along with other physical evidence gathered at the scene, pointed to the crash being staged rather than accidental. This prompted police to reclassify the case from a road accident to a planned, premeditated killing, widening the scope of the investigation well beyond traffic negligence.

According to the police, the alleged mastermind behind the murder is Sharma's own daughter, Ayushi Sharma. Officers allege that Ayushi arranged for her mother's killing by paying nearly seven lakh rupees to hired men, with the motive rooted in a long-standing property dispute within the family, as well as the possibility of Ayushi herself stepping into the same compassionate government post that would fall vacant following her mother's death.

So far, seven people have been taken into custody in connection with the case. Apart from Ayushi Sharma, the police have arrested Mohan Swaroop, Mohit Sharma, Akash Sharma, Arvind Sharma, Hemant Sharma, and Rohit Jatav. Of these, Hemant Sharma is alleged to have played a direct role in carrying out the attack itself. An eighth accused, identified as Balram alias Ravi, is said to be absconding, and police teams are reportedly working to trace his whereabouts as part of the ongoing manhunt.

Investigators have not yet made public the full sequence of events leading up to the killing, including how the alleged conspiracy was planned, financed, and executed, or the exact roles played by each accused. The case is still being probed, and police are expected to lean heavily on forensic evidence, mobile call records, and CCTV footage from the stretch of road where the collision occurred to piece together and establish the chain of conspiracy behind the killing.

Contract killings disguised as accidents are not new to Indian criminal investigation, but cases involving an adult child as the alleged conspirator against a parent tend to draw particular public attention, both for the nature of the betrayal involved and for what they reveal about disputes over family property and government employment benefits. The compassionate appointment scheme, under which Neeraj Sharma had originally secured her court job after her husband's death, is designed to support families that lose a breadwinner. Allegations that the very same scheme may have become a motive for murder are likely to raise fresh questions about how such welfare benefits are structured, monitored, and safeguarded against misuse within families.

As the investigation proceeds, the police are expected to file a detailed charge sheet once the roles of all the accused have been conclusively established through evidence. Until then, all allegations against Ayushi Sharma and her co-accused remain claims made by the investigating agency and are yet to be tested and proven before a court of law. The absconding accused, Balram alias Ravi, remains a key figure, investigators hope to locate soon in order to complete the picture of exactly how the alleged plot was hatched, funded, and executed on the ground.

The case continues to be investigated by the Jaipur police, and further details, including formal charges against those arrested, are awaited.

Inputs from NDTV