Bhubaneswar: May 28: The police today recovered the body of a youth from a house in Phase I of Dumuduma area on the outskirts of the city.

The hands and legs of the unidentified deceased were tied with a rope and mouth was gagged with a piece of cloth. The police have seized a dagger from the spot.

Sources said the deceased was an autorickshaw driver. The police detained two persons and were questioning the house owner and his wife who was at home when the incident had taken place.

According to police, they got call around 11am that a man was killed in a house at Dumuduma. “On reaching the spot, we found the body lying in a closed room on the first floor of the house,” said a police officer.

House owner Kanhu Charan Jena — a trader — was not at home when the incident had taken place. His wife Rebati Jena said Kishore Chandra Sahoo, an autorickshaw driver, was staying in that room on rent.

She said this morning Kishore came with two of his friends and told me that these two youths would stay there for sometime. Then he left the place.

The murdered youth was one of them.

The neighbours said this morning some youths came on motorcycles to the house and after sometime they heard sounds of people fighting in that room.

“When I asked Rebati about the youths whereabouts, she did not tell me anything and rather started arguing with me,” said Kalpana Sahu, who lives next door.

After sometime she again insisted that Rebati go and see what had happened in the room.

Then Rebati went upstairs and found the room locked. With the help of neighbours they made a hole on the wall and saw a man was lying in a pool of blood with his hands and legs tied with a rope and mouth gagged.

They soon informed the Khandagiri police that rushed the spot. Later, the deputy commissioner of police Himanshu Lal reached the spot.

The scientific team verified the room and the surroundings. In the late afternoon, police sent the body for post-mortem.

Sources said house owner was staying on the ground floor. He had rented three rooms on the first floor to three people.

While the autorickshaw driver was staying in one room, a couple was staying in another and a 20-year-old girl was staying in the third room. When the incident occurred, the girl and the couple were not in their room.

Police said it was a planned murder. As the deceased was known to the prime accused Kishore, he planned to kill him with his other associates.

“We think it might be the fall out of a dispute over love or money. We are investigating into the matter from all possible angles and the accused will be nabbed soon,” said a police officer.