A WHITCHURCH man has been arrested in connection with a murdered taxi driver who was left in a Hampshire lay-by.

The arrests yesterday morning brings the total to 15 in Operation Coach, the investigation into the murder of Gurinderjit Rai.

Mr Rai, from Eastleigh, was found in a car in a remote layby on Shepherds Farm Lane, Corhampton, in the Meon Valley, on July 13. The father-of-two had suffered gunshot wounds.

Yesterday, a 39-year-old man, from Winchester, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. A 20-year-old man from Whitchurch was also arrested on the same charge. They have since been released but remain under investigation, said a police spokesman.

Most of the arrested men have been from the Winchester area.

Meanwhile, officers have completed their forensic search of a property in Battery Hill, Stanmore, after several weeks. A skip that had been placed outside the house has been removed.

Police search house and garden for weeks as 13th person arrested in layby murder probe

As previously reported, Aston Hannis, 28, of Winchester, was jailed for 12 months after he refused to hand over the passcode to his phone to police as part of their investigation.

An inquest into Mr Rai’s death was opened in July. Acting area coroner Samantha Marsh said a post mortem found he died of “shotgun wounds to the head and neck”.

Ms Marsh adjourned the inquest to January 24 2020, although that date may change due to the ongoing police investigation.