Lucknow, April 7 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh police has claimed that NIA official Tanzeem Ahmad was shot dead last week over a "personal animosity arising out of a property dispute".

A senior police official told IANS that while the matter is still being probed, they have zeroed in on the personal angle as the motive behind the high-profile murder.

Of the two people police have detained, one is a former student of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) while the other is a sharp shooter and a contract killer. Sources said Tanzeel Ahmad was killed owing to a dispute over a shop in New Delhi.

"A villager of Tanzeem's native place had given the contract to kill him," the sources added while pointing out that the former AMU student Muneer is from Bijnor. 

The Pulsar bike, allegedly used by the assasins during the killing has also been recovered from Bareilly.

Senior official Deepak Ratan, who is in-charge IG of Law and Order however said that "there were some crucial leads based on which the line of action is being decided." He also added that for now all angles were being explored.

The NIA official was shot 21 times when he was driving back home from a family wedding in Bijnor on Sunday. While he died on the spot, his two children survived the attack and his wife, who sustained four gun shot wounds, is admitted to a Noida hospital, where her condition continues to be critical.

Initially, it was believed that the killing had a terror angle as Tanzeem Ahmad was involved in some sensitive cases, incuding the Pathankot terror attack probe.