Three more policemen of Gujarat's Anti-Terrorist Squad were arrested in connection with the fake encounter case, even as police completed excavations at arrested police officer D G Vanzara's village farmhouse looking for possible remains of Kausar Bi, wife of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.

Inspector N H Dabhi, Ajay Parmar and Sant Ram were arrested for their alleged role in the fake encounter, CID sources said. With this, the total number of arrested policemen rose to six.

Dabhi is accused of firing three rounds on Sheikh during the fake encounter that took place on the outskirts of the city on November 2005, the sources said.

Parmar is the personal assistant to the IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian when he was the SP with the state ATS while Sharma is a constable.

The three policemen have been charged with abduction, illegal confinement and murder and are likely to be produced before the court for remand.

They are suspected to have played an important role in carrying out the encounter and also in killing and disposing of the body of Kausar Bi, the sources said.

Their arrest comes after detailed interrogation of DIG (border range) D G Vanzara, who headed the ATS then, SP Rajkumar Pandian and Rajasthan SP Dinesh M N. These officers were arrested on April 24 for their alleged role in the fake encounter. The police custody remand of the three IPS officers expires on Tuesday.

The Gujarat CID (Crime), which conducted the excavations at Vanzara's native Illol village, 100 km from here, has collected some samples.

"The digging was completed late last night. The team has collected some samples which will be examined by forensic experts," a senior police official said.

An eight-member Gujarat CID (Crime) team which was assisted by experts from the Directorate of Forensic Science in Gandhinagar has collected some sample that will now be sent for forensic examination, police sources said.

The digging work was conducted largely in and around an abandoned well that is in a farm behind Vanzara's massive bungalow and is owned by him and located in Sabarkatha district, about 100 km from Ahmedabad, the sources said.

The CID (Crime), are known to have sifted through a huge mound of dug-up earth to find any remains or clues regarding Kausar Bi's body disposal, the source said.

This particular spot was dug up because Rubabuddin, brother of the fake encounter victim, had specifically said in his application to the Supreme Court that he feared that his sister-in-law was killed by Vanzara's team and then dumped into the well behind his property.