New Delhi, April 24: Delhi police have arrested four persons from Orissa on the charge of murdering a mother and her daughter, both practising lawyers in Delhi High Court.

Swarna Mahajan, 73, and her 48-year-old daughter Anuradha were found strangled to death in their Siddharth Enclave home on March 12.

Investigations pointed the needle of suspicion at four persons. One of them was Bhaskar Mallick, 21, who was working in a neighbouring flat till one and a half years ago. The police said he had masterminded the plot to rob and kill the mother and daughter.

A resident of Soro in Orissa’s Balasore district, Bhaskar came to Delhi in 1991.

Crime branch officials G.S. Mallik and Naresh Solanki reached Soro yesterday, and with the help of local police arrested Bhaskar and his three associates ? Jagabandhu Das, 22, Bhagaban Mallick, 22 and Niranjan Mallick, 23.

They were produced before the Soro judicial magistrate and are being brought to Delhi on a three-day transit remand. They will be produced in a Delhi court on Wednesday.

Delhi police had questioned around 300 domestic servants, maids, plumbers, electricians and cable mechanics in Siddharth Enclave before zeroing in on Bhaskar.

The police said he knew that the mother and daughter lived by themselves ? Anuradha is a divorcee and her brother lives in the US ? and kept a lot of cash and jewellery at home. Bhaskar and his associates entered the flat by breaking open a bathroom window, they added.

The police have seized gold jewellery, coins and a statue ? weighing 1.2 kg? from the quartet, besides 25 silver coins and $73.