Eight men have been arrested for allegedly beating another to death after an altercation at the Gold Line Club in the capital’s Phnom Penh Thmey commune, Sen Sok district, in the early hours of Wednesday.

Sen Sok district police chief Hour Meng Vang told The Post on Thursday that police officers had arrested all those involved in the killing. He declined to name the suspects as “investigations are ongoing”.

The National Police said on its website that the victim, Kim Chhunly, 29, was missing a gold necklace weighing 750g, a platinum ring weighing 375g and other items when his corpse was found lying near the base of a mango tree.

A Sen Sok district police official told The Post under the condition of anonymity that Chhunly worked in the online logistics field while his 21-year-old wife was a factory worker from Battambang province who lived in a rented room in Phnom Penh.

He said she was staying in Chhunly’s hometown in Kandal province’s Ampil commune in Khsach Kandal district when she received a phone call on Wednesday informing her that Chhunly had been beaten to death.

The police official said the wife claimed her husband had never been involved in an altercation with anyone during their time together.

He said witnesses reported that before the incident occurred, some seven people joined Chhunly at Gold Line Club, while 10 others on 10 motorcycles attended a birthday party in the same location.

The witnesses, he said, did not know why the gang of 10 allegedly beat Chhunly to death, but some claimed that the deceased tried to flee to his motorcycle and escape the area via Street 1988 before he was caught and killed.

The suspects are believed to have hit the victim on his head with stones until he died and left his corpse near the mango tree, the police official said.