Five persons were killed in a land dispute in Gandak diara near Sahebganj in Muzaffarpur district on Wednesday night.
The deceased identified as Sanjay Singh, Munindar Singh, Bhrigu Tiwary, Chandan Singh and Satan Singh belonged to Panapur and Fatehpur villages of Saran district located on the other side of Gandak.
Bodies of the deceased, however, have not been recovered so far.
According to villagers, the victims had crossed over Gandak on a country boat to take possession of a portion of land in the diara (riverine areas), which emerges after water recedes.
Shivnath Sahni along with his followers equipped with sophisticated weapons fired indiscriminately at them while they were approaching the bank killing five of them.
Boatman Shankar Raut, however, swam to safety. Confirming the deaths, Muzaffarpur SP Sunil Kumar said that Shivnath Sahni of Hussaipur village masterminded the attack on five villagers.
The SP suspected that the bodies might have been thrown in the river and carried away from the site of the incident or buried in the sandy terrain. Both the Saran and Muzaffarpur police along with Special Task Force personnel have launched joint operations to nab the criminals.
Two separate teams of divers along with dog squads have also pressed into service to trace the bodies. “The police have detained several persons with criminal antecedents for interrogation in course of raids conducted at Suhasni, Madhopur, Hussaipur and other villages under Deoriya and Sahebganj police stations.
{{/usCountry}}Two separate teams of divers along with dog squads have also pressed into service to trace the bodies. “The police have detained several persons with criminal antecedents for interrogation in course of raids conducted at Suhasni, Madhopur, Hussaipur and other villages under Deoriya and Sahebganj police stations.
{{/usCountry}}We have also received information that Shivnath Sahni has sustained bullet injuries and is undergoing treatment at an unknown place,” the SP said.