New Delhi, March 13: Police today detained the owner of one of the vehicles that had gone to the residence of murdered lawyers Swarna and Anuradha Mahajan on Saturday night.

The mother and daughter were found strangled and tied to their beds on Sunday morning with their south Delhi home ransacked.

The police today seized a Maruti 800 car from Noida and detained its owner Chanakya Verma.

People in two cars had visited the lawyers on Saturday. Anuradha had gone out with Verma, the son of a former air force officer, in the night and returned in another car, the police said. The car left the area in 10 minutes.

The police have sent teams to track down the other car bearing an Uttar Pradesh registration number.

“It is still a blind case,” a police officer said. But deputy commissioner of police Anil Shukla said: “We have made significant progress.”

The police are questioning the 30-year-old Verma and four to five others.

Swarna, 72, and Anuradha, 48, both practising lawyers of Delhi High Court, had been fighting a case with an Uttar Pradesh connection.

The police suspect the murderers were known to the family as they did not force their way into the house.