5th Person Arrested over Burned Bodies Found in Eastern Japan

Tokyo, May 6 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police arrested Monday a fifth person over the burned bodies of a Tokyo couple found in the eastern Japan prefecture of Tochigi in mid-April.

Arrested by a joint investigation team of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department and the Tochigi prefectural police department was corporate executive Seiha Sekine, the 32-year-old common-law husband of the couple's daughter.

Sekine, a resident of Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, is suspected of damaging the bodies of Ryutaro Takarajima, a 55-year-old company executive, and his wife, Sachiko, 56.

Investigators from the joint team raided Sekine's home, and arrested him after he refused to come with them on a voluntary basis for questioning.

The investigation team will work to get to the bottom of the incident, believing that Sekine approached Hikaru Sasaki, 28, who has already been arrested also for allegedly damaging the bodies, and others for conspiracy with him by promising to pay them rewards.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]