Madhya Pradesh: 5 of family shot dead by kin over land dispute

Sagar (MP), June 22: Five members of a family, including a boy, were shot dead allegedly by three relatives after a dispute over a strip of land for constructing a road in a town in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar district, police said on Saturday.

A woman member of the family and two boys escaped unhurt as they had locked themselves inside a room during the incident on Friday night, an officer said. According to the police, Manoj Ahirwar (45) and Sanjiv Ahirwar (35) were brothers and their families lived in adjacent houses in Bina town, around 150 km northeast of Bhopal, the police said.

The dispute started two days ago when their uncle, Manohar Ahirwar, asked for two-foot-wide strip of land belonging to Sanjiv Ahirwar's family to create an approach road as construction work was going on in his house, Bina police station incharge Anil Maurya said.

As arguments over the issue escalated, Manohar Ahirwar and his two sons, Praveen and Prashant, allegedly attacked Sanjiv Ahirwar and his family on Friday night, Maurya said. "While Manoj, Sanjiv, his wife Rajkumari (30) and son Yashwant (12) died on the spot, Sanjiv's paternal aunt Tarabai (55) later died at the Sagar medical college during treatment," the officer said.

Manohar Ahirwar has been arrested and his licensed gun that was apparently used in the crime recovered, but his sons are on the run, the officer said. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and a search is on to nab the other two accused, the officer added.