Skeletons of three members of a family were found six months after they were abducted in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, police said on Friday.
The deceased, identified as Jagdish Rajak (60), Sharda Devi (55) and their grandson Raj Rajak (17), were kidnapped from Sidma village in Tantnagar area and killed allegedly by their neighbour Vikash Behra and his accomplices in May over a land dispute, Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Shekhar said.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Sadar Sub-divisional Police Officer Dilip Khalko was formed to trace the abducted persons and nab the accused, he said.
The prime accused and his family members had fled the village and were frequently changing locations in neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Odisha, he said.
However, Vikash Behra's two wives Sushmita (36) and Parvati (23) and accomplices Rasai Siku (51) and Shushil Jamuda (32) were arrested in West Singhbum district on Thursday, the SP said.
Based on inputs provided by Jamuda and Siku, the three skeletons were exhumed from Chhota Lagia village in Muffasil area in the presence of a magistrate, he said.
They had killed the trio and buried them in the village, the officer said.
Altogether seven people were involved in the crime, and the prime accused is still at large, he said, adding a manhunt has been launched to nab him and the remaining accused.
The incident was the outcome of a long-standing dispute over a piece of land, he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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