Bhubaneswar, April 13: Police yesterday arrested five persons from Bengal and Odisha for their alleged involvement in the murder of a senior citizen at Kalinga Nagar here in February.

The police said the goons killed retired bank officer Balaram Sahu, 68, in a bid to loot him. Sahu’s semi-decomposed body that was tied in a rope was spotted in his three-storey apartment at Kalinga Nagar on February 17.

After around two months of the incident, the police arrested the accused, identified as Rakib Hussain, 29, and Md Akhtar, 26, of Murshidabad in Bengal, Ganga Reddy, 28, of Ganjam, Jitu Diggal, 24, of Kandhamal and Sasikant Bhol, 31, of Kendrapara district. While Hussain and Akhtar were residing at Pokhariput, Reddy and Bhol were staying at Saliasahi and Diggal was at Jayadev Vihar.

The police seized the stolen mobile phone, iPhone and 58 UCO Bank fixed deposit receipts from these accused. Sources said the accused went to their respective villages after killing Sahu.

“We found Hussain’s voters’ identity card from the deceased’s house. where he worked as a mason. As he had Rs 12,000 pending with the deceased, Hussain tried to collect the due several times. The retired officer did not pay him his dues following which Hussain attacked Sahu on January 22, severely injuring him,” said Sanjeev Satpathy, inspector in charge of Khandagiri police station.

He added that later Hussain, along with the remaining accused, planned to kill Sahu and loot the house.

The police first arrested Hussain and Akhtar, while the others were nabbed with inputs from them. The accused were sent to Jharapada jail following rejection of their bail pleas.

“We had initially registered the case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, but later it was converted to Section 460 (all persons jointly concerned in lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night punishable where death or grievous hurt caused by one of them) and Section 396 (dacoity with murder) of the penal code,” said the inspector.