Paradip, Oct. 27: Business rivalry led to yesterday's murder of a shipping company manager, said police.

The cops today registered cases against the managing director of Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL) and three of his colleagues.

Cases under various sections were lodged against Mahimanand Mishra, managing director of OSL, B.K. Bal, director of operations and logistics and two OSL employees - Subhas Acharya and Devi Tripathy, the police said.

The company was at loggerheads with the Paradip unit of Seaways Shipping and Logistics limited (SSLI) over stevedoring operations at Paradip port for the past year. Mahendra Kumar Swain, the deceased, was the prime target of the rival stevedoring company.

A case was registered after the deceased's elder brother, Raj Kishore Swain, lodged a complaint. Besides, a separate FIR has also been lodged by Seaways officials that alleged that OSL higher-ups masterminded Swain's murder by hiring criminals, the police said.

The cops also said that it had been established that the assailants were contract killers who were hired by business opponents of the deceased.

"Extortion does not appear to be the motive of the crime. The victim was apprehensive of a threat to his life and had earlier sought police security. However, he had private security guards with him when the fatal attack was made. He had never informed the police of any extortion. Those named in the FIRs will be subjected to interrogation," said Paradip additional superintendent of police Gadadhar Pradhani.

“The cops are trying to arrest the killers. Four special squads have been formed,” the official said.