The body of a former Maoist was found on Monday morning in Jamui district’s Ranga village around eight hours after an armed gang attacked his house and killed his wife on the spot.

Sources in the village in Pargaha panchayat said a group of 15-20 Maoists in mufti raided the house of Gayani Yadav (45), a former Maoist, and abducted him around 10pm on Sunday. His wife, Siya Devi alias Hulo Devi (38), who tried to resist the Naxalites, was shot dead from point-blank range.

Some villagers, who had gone to collect firewood from a nearby forest, found the body of Gayani on Monday morning near Borba village, some 2km from Ranga under the Jhajha police station area.

Police sources said it could be fallout of a dispute on levy and arms among the Maoists, who have made Jamui, around 250km southwest of Patna, their stronghold in the past few years.

According to Jamui superintendent of police Jitendar Rana, Gayani was charge-sheeted by Jhajha Government Railway Police (GRP) in the April 13, 2008, incident in which the rebels killed four of their personnel, a railway porter and looted an arsenal at GRP station. Besides, Belhar police in neighbouring Banka arrested Gayani in 2010 under Section 17 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act. He was given bail in November last year.

“We have information that the deceased used to collect levy in the name of the outfit and developed confrontation with many rebel leaders,” Rana said.

He added that the preliminary investigation suggested it as the handiwork of the gang of Pintu Rana, a self-styled area commander of the Maoists, operating in Jamui and its adjacent areas.

The deceased couple left behind two teenaged boys and a nine-year-old girl.

A villager, on condition of anonymity, said Gayani after coming out of jail started operating a separate gang with the help of some former Maoists like Kali Yadav, Yaganath Yadav among others and had started a reign of terror there.

Echoing the villagers, Monaranjan Bharati, inspector-cum-SHO, Belhar police station, said the Gayani gang had triggered panic.

“I picked him up in July 2010 with arms and Naxalite literature but he was taken on remand by Jhajha GRP soon after the arrest. He was also chargesheeted in another case in 2004 in which a licensed gun of one Kalika Barnawal, a resident of Karmatard, was snatched by a group of Naxalites,” Bharti added.