Bhubaneswar, Oct. 12: Four persons were arrested today in connection with the murder of music director Sumanta Mohanty.

Manas Ranjan Vedanta (27), the main accused, is said to have a history of enmity with Sumanta following an old grudge. The other accused, who reportedly assisted Manas in the crime, were Sushil Samantray, Sushil Jena and Subhakant Jena.

Manas was also arrested in October 2001, when he was studying in Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, for attacking Sumanta with a knife as the latter had objected to Manas while he passed comments to girls.

Following this, he was sent to jail and rusticated from the college. Ever since, he had a grudge on Sumanta.

In 2006, he had picked a fight with the music director blaming him for his unsuccessful life. One more suspect named Bikram Aditya Jena is still at large, said deputy commissioner of police Himanshu Lal.

The body of the 35-year-old Sumanta was found stuffed inside the dicky of a Maruti car in a canal on Friday. The body was recovered naked, full of deep cuts and wrapped in a bed-sheet neatly arranged inside the dicky of the Maruti car.

A dagger and a country-made pistol — the weapons of offence, two rings and a gold chain which Sumanta was wearing, the cellphone of the deceased were also found, said Lal. One of the motives was professional jealousy too, he added.

Sumanta, an upcoming music director of the Oriya film industry, had worked for a few albums too. Recently, Sumanta had scored music for Geeta Govinda, pet project of a senior IAS officer residing in Delhi.

On the fateful night, Sumanta was asked by Manas to meet him in connection with a music cassette project. According to the police, the music director was taken to a house in Bomikhal area where he was murdered. Sharma said the body was wrapped in a bed-sheet, placed in the dicky of Sumanta’s car and driven to Palasuni from where it was pushed off into the canal.