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Updated: Jul 24, 2019 08:14 IST

Armed assailants sporting uniforms of a Jharkhand-based Maoist faction allegedly barged into the home of a local BJP leader in Khunti district on Monday night and opened fire, killing him, his wife and a son, police said on Tuesday.

The incident happened in Hethgoa village under Murhu police station, about 40km from the state capital, Ranchi. While Maagho Mundu, 65, his wife, Lukhi Mundu , 60, and son, Liprai Mundu, 28, died on the spot, his second wife, Dharmi Devi, a daughter and a daughter-in-law managed to escape, the police said. Another relative, Labri Devi, was wounded but is recuperating at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi.

Maagho Mundu was a member of the working committee of the Jharkhand BJP’s Scheduled Tribe wing.

“Five to seven people swooped on the house of BJP leader Maagho Mundu on Monday late evening. They opened indiscriminate fire...,” said zonal inspector general (Chhotanagpur), Naveen Singh, who visited the spot on Monday. The IG said different police squads had been formed to track down the assailants and raids were underway. “We have picked up nearly a dozen people for questioning. The role of the banned People’s Liberation Front of India is suspected behind the triple murder,” he said.

BJP’s Khunti district president, Kashi Nath Mahto said it was difficult to immediately say who the assailants or what their motives were. “As per my knowledge, Mundu never received any life threats,” he said.