Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former state minister Dr Atmaram Tomar was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his house in Baghpat late on Thursday night.
Tomar had earlier contested an assembly poll from Chaprauli constituency in the district.
A report of homicide was later lodged by his son and the body was sent for an autopsy.
The police were now trying to drop the net on the accused named in the FIR.
As per reports, a former principal of Janata Vedic Inter College, Dr Tomar (75), was found dead at his residence on Bijraul road with a towel tied on his neck. He seemed to have been strangled to death by the assailant and the SUV of the late leader was also found missing.
The deceased’s son Dr Pratap told the police that a kin of his daughter-in-law was behind his father’s killing. In the FIR lodged with local police, Dr Pratap named the uncle of the daughter-in-law and the uncle’s friend, Balram, and alleged that they orchestrated the killing over a dispute over a gas agency.
After registering a case the police were trying to nab the named accused and grill them to extract the truth.
Meanwhile in Sultanpur, eight women and a child were injured as their van caught fire after refuelling at a petrol station on Prayagraj-Ayodhya highway while they were returning to Ayodhya after visiting a 'dargah' on Thursday night.
The condition of the mother-daughter duo, Amina and Umaima (4,), was stated to be serious and they were referred to a Lucknow hospital for specialised treatment. The other injured were rushed to the district hospital.
The ill-fated passengers from Ayodhya visited a 'dargah' in Sultanpur and on their return journey they stopped at Durgapur petrol pump in Piparpur Thatha area to get the CNG tank filled around 9 pm on Thursday. After the refill, as the driver switched on the ignition, the car’s CNG kit caught fire possibly due to a short-circuit in the wiring and the fire engulfed the entire vehicle.