Maoist, wife beaten to death in Jharkhand

A Maoist and his wife were beaten to death allegedly by his fellow village folks in Jharkhand's Palamu district on Saturday after he shot dead a man over a land dispute, police said.

Thirty-six-year-old Pragas Singh, a member of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit, had come to his house in Kundalipur village in Manatu police station area on leave from his squad, Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar said.

He shot 40-year-old Vinod Singh dead, also a local person, over an old land dispute, following which villagers beat the Maoist and his wife Premni Devi (30) to death with sticks, he said.

A police contingent has been sent from Medininagar to the village that lies in dense hilly forests close to the inter-state border with Bihar, the officer added.