The Agiripalli police solved the murder mystery of Reddi Solomon Raju (40), and arrested five persons, including the wife of the deceased, Reddi Durgamani in connection with the case, on Thursday.

Solomon Raju, a native of Vadlamanu village in Eluru district, went missing on April 17. His body was found in Ryves canal, at Uppaluru village in Kankipadu mandal of NTR District the next day.

Investigation revealed that Palagani Venkanna Babu, an employee in Vadlamanu village secretariat, allegedly had an extra-marital affair with Durgamani, Superintendent of Police K. Pratap Shiva Kishore told the media on Thursday.

Knowing about the affair, Solomon Raju started harassing his wife.

When Durgamani told this to Venkanna Babu, the latter allegedly hired a gang comprising K. Sai Srinivas, M. Jaswanth Roy and K. Manikanta, all natives of Krishna and NTR Districts, to elliminate Solomon Raju, the SP said.

Durgamani reportedly paid ₹12 lakh to the gang members who allegedly strangulated Solomon Raju with the wire of a mobile phone charger, Nuzvid Deputy Superintendent of Police K.V.V.N. Prasad said.

The accused would be produced before the court, the SP said.