Englewood Doctor Sentenced to 9 Years in Murder-for-Hire Plot

An Englewood doctor was sentenced Friday to nine years in state prison in a murder-for-hire plot targeting his lover and ex-business partner, prosecutors said. 

Dr. Ajit Jayaram, 65, who had a practice in Jersey City, must serve eight years before being eligible for parole, according to the state Attorney General's Office. Jayaram tried to hire a hitman to kill his lover, Radha Ramaswamy, and a pharmacist, Mukhtar Ahmed, between Aug. 28 and Oct. 10, 2010. 

The hitman, however, turned out to be an informant and was being monitored by state detectives. Jayaram pleaded guilty Feb. 27 to two counts of first-degree attempted murder, one count each of second-degree health care claims fraud and third-degree Medicaid fraud.

Investigators learned Jayaram owed Ramaswamy $250,000 and feared his wife would learn of the affair. The doctor and Ahmed had a failed business relationship and were also in a running dispute over a woman. 

“This doctor saw murder as the solution to all of his problems, including a messy affair, a major debt, and a despised business partner who threatened to expose his infidelity,” state Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said in a statement. 

Jayaram also admitted that between March and November 2010 he took payments from Medicaid for exams and other procedures that were never performed or not medically needed, prosecutors said. Jayaram also confessed to paying six people for visits to his office so he could fraudulently bill Medicaid. 

The state's board of Medical Examiners in May 2011 temporarily suspended Jayaram's license to practice medicine, officials said. 

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