Cuttack, July 11: Three persons were hacked to death today following a clash over a property dispute at Safipur village in Paramhans panchayat, 15km from here.

One person suffered grievous injury in the incident.

The deceased have been identified as Sanjay Swain, 32, of Chauliaganj, Dipak Ojha, 22, and Ranjit Beura, 37, of Safipur village in the Kandarpur police limits.

Police arrested one Kedar Naik, 51, in connection with the incident.

The police said Kedar and his four sons, who belong to the same village, killed the trio with sharp weapons around 2pm following a scuffle a few hours earlier.

Sources said Ranjit, who had criminal antecedents, had a past dispute with Kedar’s family over property and a theft case.

The killings took place when Ranjit, along with his associates — Dipak, Sanjay and two others — had gone to the Kedar’s house to settle the previous scores.

Sources said that following a heated argument both the sides attacked each other.

While Ranjit, Dipak and Sanjay were killed in the attack, in which sharp weapons were used, Kedar’s eldest son Bijay also suffered multiple injuries and has been admitted to SCB.

“There were differences between Ranjit and his neighbours that had been lingering for the past few years. It is suspected that the dispute is related to property. Further investigation is on,” said deputy commissioner of police Sanjiv Arora.

The police recovered the bodies Ranjit and Dipak from the Kedar’s house, while Sanjay’s body was found in the veranda. All the three deceased had injuries on head, face, neck and other parts of their body.

“We have detained Kedar, while his two sons are absconding,” Arora said, adding that two sharp weapons, suspected to have been used in the killings, were seized from near the crime spot. Police personnel have been deployed in the area.

“I have no idea why my son was killed since he had no enmity with anyone,” said Dipak’s mother Savitri.