As many as eight people have been arrested in connection with the murder of Bajrang Dal activist Harsha in Shivamogga, Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, the Karnataka Home Minister said, "Until last night, six suspects were arrested and today two more arrests have been made."

"We need to ascertain how many police officers and personnel were there in these two police stations in the past five years and how they monitored these accused (those eight arrested) who have a huge criminal past," he said.

Mohammed Kashif, Syed Nadeem, Ashifullah Khan, Rehan Khan, Nehal and Abdul Afnan - all residents of Shivamogga - are among the eight arrested.

Meanwhile, district authorities have extended the prohibitory orders in Shivamogga till Friday, a day after incidents of arson and stone-pelting were reported in the district in which about 20 people got injured.

“We are collecting information on the movement of the accused in the past six months, about the locations they visited and people they met. We are investigating it from all angles. We have few eyewitnesses in the case and the accused are being interrogated separately,” the SP said.

Harsha, 28, was in the forefront of organising functions related to the Hindu religion, in matters related to cow slaughter, illegal transportation of cows. Harsha has been very active on social media and carried out pro-Hindutva messages which antagonised a lot of people, police said.