Two people have been arrested for allegedly killing a pregnant 17-year-old girl and burying her body in the Sone riverbed in Jharkhand's Palamu district, police said on Sunday.

The deceased's 18-year-old lover and his friend were arrested from Koriyadih village in Hussainabad police station area on Saturday, Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar said.

The murder was a fallout of the victim pressuring her lover to marry her and the latter refusing to do so. He had contacted a nurse who had demanded Rs 10,000 for abortion but he failed to arrange the money, the officer said.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused had taken the girl to an unknown location on February 21 and killed her by stabbing her on the neck with a knife.

The two accused then took the dead body to Sone river and buried it in the riverbed, he said, adding the body was found on February 27.