Patna: A middle-aged man was stabbed to death by his close relatives at a village panchayat, allegedly over a property dispute, in Madhubani district on Monday night.

The incident took place at Alipur village under the jurisdiction of Bhairabsthan police station in Madhubani district, around 160km northeast of Patna, where Yogendra Yadav was attacked allegedly by his three brothers.

The attackers, identified as Ranjan Yadav, Sanjay Yadav and Vinod Yadav, however, managed to escape after committing the crime. Yogendra had a dispute with his three brothers over three bighas of land on the outskirts of their ancestral village.

Yogendra was rushed to the primary health centre from where he was referred to Madhubani sadar hospital. The doctors declared him brought dead and later handed over the body after post-mortem.

A police officer posted at Bhairabsthan police station said an FIR had been lodged against Ranjan, Sanjay and Binod, accusing the trio of attacking the victim with a knife at the meeting to settle the dispute. The officer said the accused were absconding after the incident. "Raids are underway to nab the culprits," said Madhubani superintendent of police Deepak Barnwal.

In another incident, a retired octogenarian teacher, Mahakant Pratihasta, was killed at Chhatauni village under the jurisdiction of Basopatti police station on Monday night.

The deceased's son, Amar Pratihasta, found his father lying in a pool of blood at his outhouse on Tuesday morning. The police attributed the reason behind the murder to property dispute.

"The victim's throat was slit with a sharp weapon while he was asleep," a police officer posted at Basopatti police station told The Telegraph over phone on Tuesday.

The frequent murders assume significance in the wake of the instruction issued by the newly appointed director-general of police (DGP) K.S. Dwivedi to all the superintendents of police to properly investigate the cases related to property (land) disputes.

A police team in Purnea on Tuesday recovered the body of a woman from Dhamdaha. Her throat was slit and her body dumped near a canal.