Jaipur: Months before 45-year-old Neeraj Sharma was allegedly run over by an SUV in what police claim was a contract killing orchestrated by her 23-year-old daughter Ayushi, the two were locked in frequent disputes over a compassionate government job and the family’s property, investigators said.Police alleged Ayushi repeatedly pressured her mother to give up the compassionate appointment she had secured after the death of her husband, Vijay Kumar Sharma, a lower division clerk (LDC) in a court. Neeraj allegedly refused, saying she needed the job to support the family, including her differently-abled teenage son.Investigators said Ayushi also wanted her mother to sell the family’s house, but Neeraj declined. According to police, the disagreements intensified over the past few months, with Ayushi allegedly assaulting and threatening her mother on several occasions before eventually leaving the house.“From the primary investigation and after speaking to different people, it appears there were regular scuffles between the mother and daughter. Ayushi would berate her mother and repeatedly try to assault her before leaving the house,” an investigating officer said.Police said statements of the arrested co-accused suggest Ayushi instructed them to ram Neeraj with an SUV at high speed and ensure that she did not survive. Investigators alleged she planned to apply for the compassionate government appointment immediately after her mother’s death.According to police, the murder was the culmination of a conspiracy that had been in the making for nearly three months. Investigators alleged Ayushi, along with her uncle and cousin, explored multiple ways of killing Neeraj before deciding to stage it as a hit-and-run accident.Police said Neeraj had sensed growing hostility at home and had confided in her brother that her daughter was taking a dangerous path. After Neeraj was killed on July 3 while returning home after dropping her differently-abled son at a coaching class, her brother approached police alleging that she had been murdered.The investigation gathered pace after CCTV footage allegedly showed an SUV hitting Neeraj at high speed before fleeing. Police have since arrested Ayushi and six other accused in the case.
