In connection with the mass murder that took place in last week of January, the Sadar police on Thursday arrested three accused persons who were at large after the incident.
With this, the total arrest figure reached 12, including nine who had been rounded up in three earlier phases.
The three arrested on Thursday are Bijay Sethi (23) of village Manikhamb, Karunakar Mahalik (25) of Ghodapada and Gobinda Nayak (32) of Badasindhia, the last two under the Sadar police station. They were booked under Section 302, 201 and 34 of IPC and 25 and 27 of Arms Act and forwarded to court, informed Sadar SDPO Amaresh Panda.
The coldblooded murder of four persons had taken place on the fateful night at about 2.30 am on the outskirts of the town at village Paganai when the family members were fast asleep.
Those killed were Prativa Mandal, her 19-year-old daughter Suman and 17-year-old son Subali and 13-year-old nephew Bibek Majhi.
The incident was fallout of an acute family acrimony which cropped up from a property dispute.