The prime witness to the massacre in which 12 people of his family were burnt alive by dacoits in a Madhya Pradesh village in March was murdered Saturday night, police said on Sunday.
"Lallu Singh Gaur was killed by some unidentified persons outside his house in Bichchiyan village in the
state's satna district while he was taking a stroll late Saturday night," GD Dwivedi, who heads Majhgaon police station, told IANS over phone.
Members of the Sunder Patel gang of dacoits had allegedly burnt alive 12 people, including four women and three children, of Gaur's family March 18, 2009.
They suspected that Gaur's son, Beta Lal - a surrendered dacoit - had played a key role in the gunning down of dacoit Ambika Prasad Patel alias Thokia by the Uttar Pradesh police force. Thokia was Sunder Patel's brother.
The police have registered a case and launched a hunt for Gaur's killers.