Charges: Man tried to order hit on ex-girlfriend, 3 others

HOUSTON — Prosecutors have charged a 54-year-old suburban Houston man with four counts of solicitation of capital murder for trying to hire a hit man to kill his ex-girlfriend, her parents and her current boyfriend.

Authorities say Rajesh Bakshi met last week with an undercover Houston police officer who Bakshi thought was a contract killer.

Harris County prosecutors say he was willing to pay $15,000 for the slayings and court records show he made a 10 percent down payment. According to court records, Bakshi provided extensive details about his targets, even suggesting times and specifying he wanted them shot and cocaine left at the crime scenes.

Bakshi was arrested Tuesday after a joint effort by the Houston Police Department and Harris County District Attorney’s Major Offenders divisions, the Harris County DA said in a press release. The office said he had up to $13,000 in cash available to him when he was arrested.

“This operation saved lives in a very sensitive situation,” District Attorney Kim Ogg said in the statement. “Imagine how bad this could have been had it not been uncovered before it got to a real hitman.”

The district attorney’s office said  Bakshi had been harassing the woman for months and allegedly been violent to her in the past, according to court papers. He allegedly sought to have her and the three others shot after being rejected.

If convicted, Bakshi, an Indian national who lives in Pearland, Texas, faces life in prison. He appeared in court Thursday and is being held on a $600,000 bond.