Sangli: One more person has been arrested in connection with the killings of nine members of the family of two brothers in Sangli district, a police official said on Tuesday.
Manoj Kshirsagar (48) a resident of Pune, had made poison pills available to self-proclaimed godman Abbas Mohammad Ali Bagwan and his aide Dhiraj Surawase, both of whom were held earlier.
The bodies of siblings Manik Vanmore and Popat Vanmore and seven members of their families were found in their two homes in Mhaishal villages in Miraj on June 20.
As suicide notes were found at the two sites, police had initially suspected it was a mass suicide pact due to harassment by money-lenders before detailed investigations revealed that Bagwan and Surawase had poisoned them, the official said.
Bagwan had poisoned the family of nine with the help of Surawase as he did not want to return the money he had taken from the family on the pretext of locating a hidden treasure for them.
