Bhubaneswar: A day after the arrest of the prime suspect in the alleged rape and murder of a Plus II student in Dhenkanal district, police on Sunday arrested three of his associates in connection with the case.All four – prime accused Jagga alias Gangadhar Patra (38), and his associates Chandan Kumar Naik (26), Rasanand Naik (64) and Madan Mohan Patra (40) – were produced in the court on Sunday, where their bail pleas were rejected and they were sent to judicial custody.The 16-year-old girl had gone missing on March 18 and her body was found near the gram panchayat office the next day. Dhenkanal SP Abhinav Sonkar said, “Prima facie, it appears that she was raped and murdered. The exact cause of death will be confirmed by the post-mortem report. Patra single-handedly sexually assaulted the minor girl, while others helped in disposing of her body.”According to police sources, Patra, who is a bus driver, lured the victim and took her to his residence, where he allegedly abused her. He then sought the help of his associates to dump her body near the Gram Panchayat office. Police suspect that the murder may have been preceded by murder. Two of the accused are reportedly relatives of Patra.Police have seized a white SUV used to transport the body, three mobile phones, the victim’s college bag and blood-stained clothes. On Saturday, police officials recreated the crime scene and sent important evidence for forensic examination.This incident has sparked outrage and opposition parties are criticizing the government regarding women’s safety. However, the BJP highlighted the swift police action and called it evidence of the government’s zero-tolerance policy against perpetrators of sexual violence.SP Sonkar said, “The case is under investigation. We are waiting for the forensic and post-mortem reports to establish the complete sequence of events. Chargesheet will be filed against the accused soon.”