Balasore: Police have arrested three persons for their alleged involvement in the murder of Kunu Panda, an ex-councillor, on January 14.

The accused are Jiten Murmu, 29, Babu Rao, 28, both from Talengasahi village and Abhi Jena, 32, of Chandipur.

The police said Jiten and Babu had criminal antecedents and were among the 10 who had hacked Panda to death. Abhi had provided shelter to the accused. The police are looking for the eight others involved.

"It was a well-planned conspiracy to murder Panda, and 10 persons were directly involved in the crime. Some of them had used weapons to hack Panda to death," said Balasore police superintendent Niti Sekhar.