Lucknow, June 1 -- The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), in a joint operation with the PGI police, arrested the alleged mastermind, along with his associate, in connection with the murder of property dealer Sandeep Singh in Lucknow on May 27. "The arrested accused have been identified as Dinesh Kumar Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar currently residing in Kakori, Lucknow, and Muqarrabin alias Mubin of Ambedkar Nagar district," an STF press note read. According to the STF, investigations revealed that Dinesh Yadav had been involved in a prolonged dispute with Singh over a piece of land in Samda village. During interrogation, Mubin, Yadav's driver since 2016, allegedly confessed that Yadav had asked him to arrange the killing of Sandeep Singh. Mubin told investigators that he contacted a contract killer and struck a deal worth Rs.5 lakh for the murder, according to officials. The hired killer subsequently engaged two shooters to execute the plan. To avoid suspicion, both Mubin and Yadav had allegedly left Lucknow on different pretexts on the day of the incident, investigators said. Mubin was apprehended jointly by STF and local police teams after a tip-off about his movement near Dalauna underpass in the PGI area on Sunday. Based on his interrogation, Yadav was summoned to the STF headquarters and arrested. Police recovered a fake number plate, two mobile phones and Rs.3,300 in cash from the accused. Yadav has several criminal cases registered against him in Lucknow and Ambedkar Nagar, including cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, extortion and intimidation cases. htc...