File picture of doctors attending to Mini Pradhan at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

Cuttack, May 15: Two contract killers were arrested today for attempt to kill Mini Pradhan alias Meena, who was thrown off Jobra barrage on May 8.

A former additional district judge’s family was accused of hiring them to get rid of the woman, who has claimed to be the wife of the judge’s son.

The accused, Prashant Sahoo, 26, alias Bapi of Pipili and Bijon Kumar Mallick, 27, alias Biju of Balasore, had been staying in Bhubaneswar for the past couple of years. Bapi, who is said to have masterminded the conspiracy, earlier used to work at a chicken sale centre in the capital city while Biju worked as a driver.

Addressing a news conference here, deputy commissioner of police S. Praveen Kumar said both the accused were arrested from near Jatni bypass in Khurda. Earlier, Jagatpur police had arrested a former additional district judge, Samir Ray, his wife Geetika, son Satyabrata and an electrician, Prashant Das, for conspiring to kill Mini.

Mini had been working as a domestic help in the house of the former judge at Lumbini Vihar since 2007. She has claimed that she had married Satyabrata and was carrying his child.

“We have nabbed the two culprits involved in the incident while efforts are on to nab the other three accused involved in the kidnap and subsequent murder bid on Mini Pradhan, who was rescued from Jobra barrage last week,” said Kumar.

Kumar said the Rays had hired contract killers to eliminate Mini with the help of the electrician. The killers were promised Rs 3.5 lakh for the job. Satyabrata, who had developed physical relation with Mini, wanted to kill her as his marriage was finalised with another girl last month.

The police said Satyabrata had initially paid Rs 10,000 to Bapi, who had engaged four persons for kidnapping Mini. Later, Rs 1.60 lakh were paid to the killers.

On May 7, all the five accused entered the Ray’s house at Lumbini Vihar and kidnapped Mini. The criminals took her to various places in Bhubaneswar, Khurda and Dhenkanal in a Matiz car belonging to Bapi before tossing her down from the Jobra bridge.

The police said the accused were not professional killers and had used the car’s seat-belt to tie up the woman. Though they had planned to kill her in Bhubaneswar, they failed in their attempt and finally had to throw her down the barrage after failing to find a suitable place to kill her. The police have recovered the Matiz car and cash worth Rs 1.5 lakh from Bapi’s house.

In another development, the theory about the alleged illicit affair between Satyabrata and Mini has taken a new twist with her medical reports showing that she was not pregnant. The family members of Mini, however, had contested the claim and demanded a medical examination by doctors from the All India Institute for Medical Sciences.