LUCKNOW, Feb. 17 -- Five days after the broad daylight murder of Shoaib Mahmood Qidwai alias Bobby, who was alleged to have been a close aide of the late mafia don Mukhtar Ansari, investigators are piecing together what senior police officials describe as a "highly synchronised operation" with digital footprints and CCTV trails forming the backbone of the probe.

Bobby was shot dead on February 13 at around 1:15 pm while driving alone from Lucknow to the Barabanki court complex. Unidentified assailants intercepted his vehicle on a busy highway stretch near Asaini turn and fired multiple rounds, killing him on the spot.

Vikas Chandra Tripathi, Barabanki additional superintendent of police, north, said the focus has now expanded beyond ext...