Tension gripped Kaipadar village under the Khordha Sadar police limits following the brutal murder of two brothers of the village by a group of stone mafia late on Wednesday night.
Police found the bodies of Swetabahana Samantsimhar and Bakari Samantsimhar with their heads crushed with stones near the Tangeni Mundia hill side on Thursday morning.
Family members stated that the brothers were killed by a group of 20 to 25 stone looters.
They said the siblings, who were doing granite stone business in the locality for some years, had a business rivalry with a group of stone mafia.
Khordha SDPO Harihar Pani said preliminary investigation revealed that five members of a stone mafia had a dispute with the two brothers over stone quarrying near the village on Wednesday night.
“A special team comprising the IICs of Town, Sadar and Jankia police stations was formed to trace the killers at the earliest,” informed Pani.
He said most of the land in the Khordha area belongs to lord Jagannath.
“Barring the Malipada quarry, which the Orissa High Court has allowed to operate, all stone quarries in this area are running illegally,” added Pani.