Mysuru, Oct 29 (IANS): Five persons including three Sanskrit teachers were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly hiring contract killers to kill their school secretary, Parashivamurthy last month.

The police claimed that these teachers hired contract killers by assuring them to pay Rs 7 lakh but as advance they paid only Rs 1 lakh to execute the murder.

Of the three Sanskrit teachers, one of them is the estranged father of Kannada film playback singer, Anannya Bhat.

The deceased, Parashivamurthy (64), was living alone on the outskirts of Mysuru and was found dead at his residence on September 20.

The accused have been identified as Siddarajau, principal of the Sanskrit school, Parashiva and Vishwanath Bhat, teachers of the same school. They hired Nagesh, a bank employee who allegedly took contract along with a mason, Niranjan, to eliminate (now deceased) Prashivamurhty.

According to the police, Parashivamurthy was killed allegedly over the professional rivalry between him and the three accused.

Parashivamurthy was the secretary of the Sanskrit school where the three accused worked.

The police added that Nagesh worked in a private bank as a loan recovery agent and wanted to make some quick money, though he is not a professional contract killer.

Mysuru Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), (Crime and Traffic), M. S. Geetha told IANS that the deceased allegedly used to harass both Bhat and Siddaraju and take a share of their part of salary.

"As this school is a government aided school, the salary fixed by the government is different from what school was paying. He was reportedly harassing them for years. Frustrated over his ever growing demands, Siddaraju reportedly decided to hire contract killers and eliminate him. Bhat joins him to execute this," the DCP said.

The police has registered a case and investigation is on.