NEW DELHI: Three police officials were arrested in India's western Gujarat state for their alleged role in the controversial murder of a Muslim couple, a report said on Monday.

Three other senior officials were arrested last month in the same case, after the Gujarat government admitted in court that a man falsely accused of killing the state's chief minister had been killed in a staged gunbattle.

The government later told the court that Sohrabuddin Sheikh's wife had also been killed and burned, allegedly to destroy evidence.

The three policemen arrested on Monday have been charged with abduction, illegal confinement and murder, the Press Trust of India reported, citing unnamed investigators.

Sheikh was shot after being accused of plotting to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has been blamed for sectarian riots which left at least 1,000 people dead, mostly Muslims, in the state in 2002.—AFP