Police are closely watching Pornchai Kaensue, who is recovering at the Hua Hin Hospital.

Prachuap Khiri Khan police chief Pol Maj-General Prasert Siripannapirat said the court had approved an arrest warrant for Pornchai after police provided strong evidence to implicate him in the murder.

Pornchai is suspected of murdering Sriprapha Kosin, 25, whose half-naked body was found in her rented room in Pranburi district on June 27. She was believed to have been killed a few days before her body was found.

At 9am on Friday, police and troops searched the house of Pornchai’s aunt in Prachup Khiri Khan’s Kuiburi district. Police obtained a search warrant from the Hua Hin court after witnesses said they saw the suspect throwing something into a lotus pound.

The authorities did not find the suspect at the aunt’s house but they found him at another relative’s house in the same tambon, Tambon Samkrathai in Kuiburi.

When the authorities rushed in to make an arrest, he drank something from a bottle. He was rushed to Sam Roi Yod Hospital before being transferred to the Hua Hin Hospital.

Police said footage from CCTV showed the suspect riding a motorcycle belonging to the waitress on June 25.

The parents of the waitress said Pornchai Kaensue used to be a boyfriend of the waitress but she broke up with him after finding out that he had a wife. The parents said the man became angry after learning that Sripapha planned to get married soon.