Bhubaneswar: A 30-year-old marine engineer working with the merchant navy in Mumbai was allegedly killed by his former girlfriend and her associate at Buddha Nagar in Laxmisagr police limits on Wednesday night.

The police have arrested the woman and her associate, who run an event management firm, on murder charges.

The deceased Baijayanta Prasad Mohanty had an argument with his former girlfriend Sushree Sasmita Mohanty, 29, at her office on Wednesday evening.

"The woman and her friend Kumar Chandan Pati arrived at the police station and claimed that Mohanty became unconscious after she retaliated when he was assaulting her. We rushed to the spot and found Baijayanta lying dead on the floor," said a police officer.

Investigations revealed that Baijayanta, a resident of Sankarpur in Cuttack, had been in a relationship with Sushree for eight years. She was also his distant relative.

However, Sushree snapped her ties with him a few months ago and began a relationship with Pati, 25.

Baijayanta's family members said he had left his house to complete some formalities at the passport centre in Bhubaneswar.

"He was supposed to leave for Calcutta on Wednesday evening. However, his phone was switched off from 2pm. We received a call from the police about his death late in the evening," said his younger brother Rudra Pratap.

Baijayanta was in Odisha for past month, he said.

The police said Baijayanta had proposed marriage to Sushree, but she had declined it. "They had a heated argument after which the deceased tried to assault the girl. Pati soon came to her aid and they pushed him to the ground. After that, they strangulated him with a gamchha," said the police officer.

Deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo said the accused confessed to their crime.

"They were arrested under Section 302 (murder) and Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code."

"The gamchha used in the crime has also been seized. They were produced in court on Thurday," he said.

The police said Baijayanta had visited Sushree's office twice earlier.

"Though both claimed that they had killed him at the spur of the moment, we are investigating the case further to ascertain whether it was a pre-planned murder," said the police officer.

Raze drive

The central eviction monitoring committee of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority on Thursday conducted an eviction drive at Kapil Prasad and removed unauthorised constructions by shop owners of Mahatab Market Complex. The drive was carried out with help from police.

The squad has removed 25 tin shed extensions, 10 bamboo shed extensions, a hotel extension and six cabins.