Police will summons five more suspects in the hired scapegoat driver case involving former teacher Jomsap Saenmuanghot's bid for a retrial of her fatal hit-and-run case 12 years ago.
Eight suspects already face charges of colluding to fabricate evidence to back Jomsap's retrial request. The investigation is now being expande to cover friends and other witnesses.
The five new suspects were believed involved at "many stages of presenting false statements to authorities," a source close to the investigation told Naewna newspaper.
They are Watsana Phetthong, Thanat Suktalotpi, Rotchana Sanrat, Sa-ne Suphan and Thongres Wongsricha, according to the newspaper's report.
Ms Thongres previously met police after she claimed to have witnessed the road accident, in which a pickup truck hit a bicycle, killing elderly Lua Pobamrung, in Nakhon Phanom in March 2005.
The suspect was said to be riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by Thassanee Hanphayak, who testified she saw a man, not Jomsap, get out of the truck after the accident.
Ms Thassanee is among the first group of eight suspects in the case, along with Jomsap, her husband Niran, a director of Dan Muang Kham Health Promoting Hospital in Sakon Nakhon, and her close friend Suriya Nualcharoen.
Mr Suriya, a former school director in Mukdahan, admitted to police last weekend that he hired Sap Wapee to lie that he was the pickup truck driver.
Last month, the Supreme Court dismissed Ms Jomsap's petition for a retrial, citing a lack of evidence and the possibiility of a network arranging "hired scapegoats" to take the blame.
Jomsap spent 18 months in prison after being convicted in her hit-and-run case. She was sentenced to three years and two months, but was freed early under royal amnesty in 2015.
