COIMBATORE: Three more students have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 19-year-old engineering student of a private college near Coimbatore, taking the total number of arrests in the case to eight.

The arrested students have been identified as K Sriram (21), B Harish Pandian (20), and S Lalith Aditya (20). All three are from Madurai and are pursuing their second year at two different colleges.

Amudhan, 19, a third-year engineering student, was killed in the attack. Five people had already been arrested in connection with the murder.

Police are searching for a few more students who were involved in the attack, which was carried out in retaliation for an earlier incident in which Amudhan and eight other students assaulted a group of students at their house in Poonga Nagar and snatched their mobile phones.

In connection with the mobile phone snatching incident, police arrested C Haridass (18), of Perambalur, and S Udhayakumar (18), from Virudhunagar. Both are second-year automobile engineering students at the same college. Further investigation is under way.