MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - The rector of the Moscow Institute of Administration and Law has been arrested on suspicion of ordering the murder of a colleague, which was thwarted by the police, the Investigative Committee said on Thursday.
Rector Ivan Aleksandrov, 73, decided to kill a college co-founder over financial disagreements, the committee said, adding that the rector had hired a hitman for 2 million rubles (about $70,000).
He supplied the hitman with the intended victim's address, possible location, phone and car license plate numbers.
Aleksandrov was arrested in a sting operation after handing a 500,000 ruble portion of the payment for the purported killing to an undercover police officer, the committee said.
It did not provide any other details of the operation.