Amidst reports of a flesh racket being run in Lucknow, a top police official's wife was among the three arrested in connection with the murder of BJP leader Malti Sharma.
Alka Mishra, wife of Deputy Inspector General of Police (Prisons) P K Mishra, is a BJP corporator.
The others arrested are Deepa Singh and constable Raj Kumar Rai. A Lucknow court on Saturday sent them to 14-day judicial custody.
While Rai had been booked for murder, Mishra and Deepa Singh have been charged under Section 120 (b) Indian Penal Code (conspiracy).
As allegations of a flesh racket flew thick and fast, Mishra claimed if police investigate the case taking into account her point of view, then the involvement of some important political and bureaucratic figures would definitely emerge.
Malti Sharma, secretary of the Lucknow unit of the BJP's women cell, was shot dead on the night of June 7. Her body was recovered the next morning from near a nullah in Sarvoday Nagar locality.
She was last seen with Rai, who was arrested in Delhi on Thursday evening. As per his testimony, police arrested Deepa Singh, a property dealer, and Alka Mishra on Friday night.
District police chief Kamal Saxena told reporters that the police have obtained records establishing telephonic conversations between Mishra and Rai. He also said Mishra and Singh were not cooperating with the investigation.
Rai had on Friday revealed during interrogation that Mishra and Sharma were political and business rivals and that the latter wanted to eliminate Mishra.
Besides promising him a hefty reward, he alleged that Mishra had also assured help to settle personal scores with Bachha Lal Pandey, who belongs to his village in Ballia district.
On the night of June 7, Mishra had contacted him and asked him to bring Sharma to a secluded spot near a nullah in Sarvoday Nagar area.
At the appointed spot, three persons stopped them and forced him to leave. Rai then claimed to have caught a train and left for Vaishno Devi.
Sharma's husband conceded Mishra considered Sharma a 'political rival' and that they did not enjoy cordial relations.
The duo had clashed during the corporation elections in 1990-1991 resulting in a case being registered at the Gudamma police station.
Both were also engaged in property dealings, which led to business rivalry. Saxena said constable Raj Kumar Rai provided patronage to Sharma.
Mishra has vehemently denied the allegations and countered that she and Deepa Singh were being 'falsely implicated' in the case and that she did not even know Rai.
Police, however, claimed that they had clinching evidence to establish that Rai was in constant touch with Mishra since the night of the killing and that the murder was committed at her behest.
"We have telephone printouts to show that Rai spoke to Mishra several times before being arrested in Delhi on Thursday evening," Saxena said.
He also claimed that Deepa Singh had acted as a conduit in the murder.
Saxena said that Rai's claim of handing over Sharma to three persons on the night of the killing is yet to be substantiated.
The police has found out, by questioning his colleagues, that Rai used to keep a country-made pistol with him.
Saxena also admitted that Bachha Lal Pandey, who is also a BJP leader, had a few days back lodged a complaint with the police alleging that Rai was providing patronage to various illegal activities and that the same is being investigated.
