The seemingly unrelated murders have a murky connection, according to the north-west district police. Poornima's husband Vinod reportedly paid hitman Farooq Rs 25,000 to get her killed. The hired killer was allegedly Ajay Sharma.

After Poornima's death, her husband apparently panicked as he was made a suspect in the case. He allegedly approached Farooq again, this time asking that Ajay be killed. The police have arrested Farooq, his associates Shahdul and Yusuf, and Vinod. With this they claim to have solved both the murders.

According to the police, on the evening of March 28 Poornima had gone to see International Khiladi at Alpana theatre with her friend Premvati. They were getting off the bus at Jehangirpuri when she was stabbed in the back. Premvati told the police that she had alighted from the bus first, and only later saw Poornima collapse. Vinod (40), an ESI employee, and Poornima got married 10 years ago. It was a love marriage. Poornima, however, started keeping unwell and took to drinking. So, Vinod decided to get her killed, the police said.

To this end he allegedly contacted Farooq (30), who was involved in a 1992 murder case. The deal was apparently sealed at Rs 25,000 and Sharma was hired to kill her. He was given Poornima's photograph and also tickets for the same movie show. According to the police, Sharma followed the women, and got a chance to strike at Jehangirpuri. He allegedly killed Poornima and collected Rs 10,000 as part payment, after returning her photograph and purse.

According to the police, once the probe into Poornima's murder started, Vinod feared that that if Sharma got caught then he would also be arrested. So he reportedly asked Farooq to kill Sharma. On April 12, Sharma was apparently called to Farooq's shop to collect the remaining Rs 15,000 due to him for Poornima's murder. He was then taken to an empty plot near Kushal Cinema and stabbed to death, allegedly by Farooq, Sahadul and Yusuf.