Police have arrested three suspects for their alleged involvement in an abduction and subsequent murder of eight-year-old Durgananda Sah of Haripur VDC-3 in Saptari.

The boy’s body was recovered from a septic tank on Wednesday night, 20 days after he was abducted, based on the statement of the suspects—Chundamani Thakur, Rambabu Gupta and Kapildev Das—who were presented before the media on Thursday.

Police said they were investigating Chundamani, who is also the boy’s neighbour, as the main suspect in the crime.

Superintendent of Police Dibesh Lohani said Chundamani had kidnapped Durgananda on November 26 and strangled him to death on the same day before disposing of the body in the septic tank.

Rambabu and Kapildev had abetted in the crime, SP Lohani added.

Five days after the abduction, Chundamani had sent a text message to the boy’s mother demanding Rs 500,000 ransom. SP Lohani said they closed in on Chundamani, Rambabu and Kapildev using the call details. Durgananda’s body has been sent to BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan for postmortem and forensic test.