Ranchi, July 30 - A forest ranger was killed here this month because his father-in-law had successfully probed a murder case, police said Thursday. The main suspect in the recent murder was the same man who had been jailed in the earlier case.

Anil Kumar Singh was shot dead in this Jharkhand capital July 4 while returning from his office. More than three weeks after the murder, police claimed to have solved the case, charging former police inspector Bhagwan Das, convicted of murdering a schoolteacher and presently in jail here, of masterminding the recent killing as well.

'Bhagwan Das gave Bittu Mishra, a fellow prisoner in Ranchi jail, Rs.3 lakh to kill Anil Kumar Singh. Mishra hired Uma Shankar Singh, another prisoner, for Rs.1 lakh and Uma Shankar Singh hired Arun Tirkey at Rs.50,000 to kill Anil Singh,' Ranchi's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Praveen Kumar Singh told reporters.

Arun Tirkey shot the forest ranger dead, the SSP alleged.