Former deputy commerce minister Pol Lt Col Banyin Tangpakorn and two other people were arrested on Sunday morning for suspected involvement in the disappearance of the elder brother of a senior judge at the Bangkok South Criminal Court, said a police source.
The three suspects were brought to the Crime Suppression Division headquarters and detained for further questioning.
One of the three allegedly said the elder brother of the Bangkok South Criminal Court judge, whose identitity was withheld, had been murdered and his body dumped into a river in Nakhon Sawan.
A team of divers was to be deployed to search the spot where the body was said to have been dumped.
Pol Lt Col Banyin, who is also a former MP for Nakhon Sawan, was linked to the disappearance because the victim was the elder brother of the Bangkok South Criminal Court judge, who is one of the judges handling a case against the former deputy commerce minister.
Pol Lt Col Banyin has been charged with falsifying documents and using fake documents to set up a transfer to him of about 300 million baht in shares belonging to billionaire friend and construction contractor Chuwong sae Tang in 2015.
He is also facing a murder charge over Chuwong's death in a mysterious car crash.
The Bangkok South Criminal Court has completed the examination of witnesses and is set to deliver a ruling in the share transfer case on March 20.