Bhagalpur: A land dispute prompted a man to attack his uncle with powerful bombs on Tuesday night, killing him. The deceased is the husband of Ranjana Devi, councillor of ward No 10 in the panchayat.

Dinesh Sharma and his family members were asleep at Koyalathan village in of Bhagalpur district when, around 11.30pm, his nephew Tinku Sharma and others attacked Dinesh with powerful bombs. Another uncle of Tinku sustained serious injuries and is battling for life in hospital.

Pradeep Sharma, a family member, rushed Dinesh and his younger brother Dipak to Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital on his two-wheeler. Doctors on duty declared Dinesh dead while Dipak was admitted in a serious state.

Pradeep said Dinesh blew up four powerful bombs while Dinesh was asleep. Ranjana and her elder son Dhiraj sustained splinter injuries in the incident.

Dipak blamed Tinku for the incident. He told police that Tinku had criminal antecedents. He also named Ajay Sharma, Munilal Sharma and Satish Sharam (all relatives) for their role in the incident along with Tinku's mother Sushma and sister Komala.

He said the incident was fallout of a dispute over a plot of land between Dinesh and Tinku. "Though the dispute was settled earlier, thanks to the intervention of neighbours and family members, Tinku had recently extorted Rs 5,000 from Dinesh's house," Dipak told the police at the hospital on Tuesday night.

He further said that Tinku was jealous of Dinesh who got to work on projects sanctioned by his wife, the ward councillor.

Deputy superintendent of police, law and order, Nishar Ahmad Sha said the police have arrested six persons, including Tinku, who are made named accused in the case. "The police also recovered material for manufacturing bombs from Tinku's house," the DSP said. Tinku had earlier been sent to jail in a case in Khagaria district.