Mumbai, Aug. 11 :    Mumbai, Aug. 11:  Police today unearthed a 'love affair' behind the bangle factory murders with the arrest of five persons. Police commissioner M.N. Singh, in a hurriedly called news conference, blamed the murder of the eight persons, including the owner of the factory, on the affair. Amarjeet Singh, an employee of Poonam Plastic, a factory in Goregaon's Rocky Industrial Estate, allegedly had an affair with Helen, working in a neighbouring factory. The police chief said Singh and his colleagues Pankaj Bihari and Kailash Nepali had hatched the murder plot with the help of three outsiders - Ghulam, Joginder Singh and Gulzar Singh. The police commissioner said the owner, Duglaram Chowdhury, had reprimanded Singh for the affair in full view of the workers and threatened to sack him a week earlier, which could have been the immediate provocation. Another motive was to 'raise funds' for the couple's marriage. Helen's brother did not approve of the relationship and had reportedly asked Singh to get Rs 1 lakh before seeking his sister's hand. The police commissioner said Singh and the other accused had forced Chowdhury to sign two blank cheques before strangling him on Thursday morning. The accused had originally planned to kill only the owner after extorting money. But the plan fell through when five workers objected to their entry. The workers were given tea laced with drugs and then strangled. Their bodies were dumped in plastic drums used to store raw materials. Police said the accused first killed Chowdhury's brother and brother-in-law, who had been called to the unit. Then the drugged workers were strangled. Police said the owner was killed on Thursday morning soon after he arrived at the factory to enquire about his brother and brother-in-law. Before killing him, the accused tied him with a rope and forced him to sign the cheques. The culprits encashed the first cheque for Rs 30,000 at the Goregaon branch of Canara Bank as soon as the bank opened on Thursday, almost two hours after the murder. At noon, two of them - Pankaj and Gulzar - returned to encash the second cheque for Rs 90,000. This time, the manager of the bank became suspicious as the factory owner had never withdrawn such a large amount in a day. He called up the factory owner and learnt about the murders. He immediately called the police and the two accused were arrested. Joginder was arrested later that night. A trap was laid at Helen's house where Amarjeet was expected to come. He, too, was arrested yesterday. Kailash surrendered at Goregaon police station.