A SECOND man has been arrested by police probing the murder of Burnley charity worker Michael Blakey.

The move comes as officers said they were planning to make their prime suspect in the case, Pawan Bhardwaj, sit a lie-detector test.

Bhardwaj, 28, the Indian husband of Rachel Owen who helped set up the Tong-Len Charitable Trust with Michael - was due to appear in court again tomorrow in connection with death of the former St Theodore's pupil.

Although Bhardwaj has appeared in court several times and has been remanded in custody for over a week he has not been formally charged with any offence.

Little is known about the latest arrest, made earlier this week, although police said the unnamed businessman was arrested after being found with a mobile phone belonging to Michael, which vanished following his murder.

Superintendent Santosh Patial said a final decision had not been made about getting Bhardwaj to take a lie-detector test.

He added: "He is still in police custody and will appear in court on the 23rd.

"Another man was arrested and we recovered a mobile phone belonging to Mr Blakey. He is in police custody.

"I cannot say more because the investigation is continuing."

Michael, 23, of Mayfair Road, Pike Hill, was killed in the Dharamsala region of India, while working for Tong Len helping refugee families.

He had been working in India for seven months after graduating from University College of Wales, Swansea, with a first-class honours degree in development studies.

Michael's body was found at the end of November buried beneath rocks in a gully near the Anglican church where he worshipped, five days after he had gone missing from a nearby monastery where he was staying.

In an extract from his diary from October Michael said Bhardwaj had threatened to kill him because he thought he and Mrs Owen, 35, were having an affair - a rumour dismissed by both Michael and Mrs Owen.

Following Michael's death Anna Owen, 64, Mrs Owen's mother who run's the British arm of the charity, set up an appeal to raise £20,000 in order to build a new centre in his memory. So far just under £1,000 has been raised.

An inquest into the death has been opened and adjourned and a funeral is expected to be held in the New Year.

The Michael Blakey appeal is online at www.justgiving.com/michaelblakey and will run until December next year.