A former player with India's rugby team has been arrested over the murders of a police officer and two other people, police said Thursday.

Parmeet Dabas, 28, was arrested in New Delhi last week after police tracked him down to a flat he had reportedly rented using fake identity papers.

He played for India off and on between 2005 and 2015, touring Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan.

“Dabas inflicted fatal injuries to three persons including a Delhi police assistant sub-inspector Vijay Kumar in a case of personal rivalry,” police deputy commissioner Pramod Singh Kushwaha told AFP.

“A nine-millimetre pistol containing two live cartridges in its magazine was recovered from his possession.”

The motive for the April 30 murders was not immediately clear. Some reports said there was a gang connection, but Kushwaha denied this.

“It seems like a case of honour killing because Dabas' distant relative wanted to get rid of a person who married his sister against the wishes of the family,” he said.

Dabas had previously served three years in jail awaiting trial for murder, but was eventually acquitted, Kushwaha said.

He said the former player had got into debt after his professional playing career ended in 2015 due to illness.