Police arrested and made public four more suspects, involved in the September 6 murder of six members of the same family at Kholagaun of Madi Municipality-1 in Sankhuwasabha, on Monday.

The Sankhuwasabha District Police at a press conference on Monday made public 47-year-old Khadga Bahadur Karki, naming him the mastermind of the crime; his 49-year-old brother Ran Bahadur Karki, and Khadga Bahadur’s 28-year-old son Hasta Bahadur Karki and Ran Bahadur’s 17-year-old son.

The police had on September 13 arrested 25-year-old Lok Bahadur Karki, one of Ran Bahdur’s sons, who had confessed to the crime, according to police.

On September 6, 55-year-old Tej Bahadur Karki, his 50-year old wife Kamala Karki; his 88-year-old mother Parbati Karki, his 25-year-old daughter-in-law Ranjana Karki, and his two grandchildren aged 11 and three were brutally killed.

Investigations on the four new suspects have begun, police said. “The accused have admitted to the crime. The police have found weapons, clothes and a ‘lost’ mobile phone connected to the crime,” said DSP Lal Dhwaj Subedi at the press conference.

The murder was planned at Lok Bahadur Karki’s house at the behest of Khadga Bahadur Karki, said police at the press conference. The suspects planned for Lok Bahadur to take the blame for the crime since he was on prescription medicines for mental health issues which they planned to use in their favour if police investigation led them to the family members of the victims, said police.