Eight members of a man's poverty-ridden family were shot and beheaded before their bodies were thrown into a river in Bihar after he secretly married a wealthy girl, police said on Wednesday.

Police in Bihar found the eight bodies floating in a river and have charged 15 people, mostly from the girl's family, with the murders.

The weekend killing took place after 21-year-old Ratan Mandal eloped with 18-year-old Kanchan Kumari and got married secretly, afraid their families would never approve due to an old social rivalry.

"The girl's family invited the boy's family for a meeting on the pretext of settling the dispute, but killed all eight and beheaded them," said Raghunath Prasad Singh, a senior police officer from Bhagalpur, where the incident took place.

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