Police have arrested three more people in connection to the killings of Dalit youths in Rukum (West).

According to police, Ghamand Malla, Bishnu Malla and Sabin Pun of Chaurajari Municipality were arrested late on Wednesday and have been sent to the District Police Office. Ghamand and Bishnu were arrested on murder charge while Pun has been arrested for additional investigation into the incident.

With this, all 20 prime accused in the Soti incident have been arrested, said police.

Rukum (West) District Police Chief DSP Thag Bahadur KC informed that the police have arrested 28 people— 20 of whom are the prime suspects in the murders and 8 others for additional investigation— in relation to the incident.

Police on Wednesday had arrested two people including a relative of the Malla family accused of orchestrating the killings.

Earlier on June 4, the police had arrested seven people in relation to the Soti incident and the Rukum (West) District court extended the remand of 18 individuals for 10 more days in police custody.

Twelve people including Dambar Bahadur Malla, the ward chairman of Chaurjahari Ward No. 8 were arrested on May 26 and six others were also arrested in relation to the crime on May 28.

On May 23, locals from Soti in Chaurjahari Municipality, Rukum (West), allegedly attacked Nabaraj BK of Jajarkot and 18 of his friends accompanying him to the village to help him elope with his girlfriend. The bodies of Nabaraj and his friend Tikaram Sunar, both of them Dalits, were found on the banks of the Bheri River the next day.

The bodies of Ganesh Budha, Lokendra Sunar and Sandip BK, who went missing after the incident, were recovered on May 25, whereas that of Govinda Shahi was recovered from Bheri river in Khodakhola, Jajarkot on June 2.