Motihari, Aug. 31: Police are yet to make a breakthrough in the murder case of district board member Madhumala Devi (26) and her former mukhiya husband Sanjeev Kumar Singh (30).

The couple were shot dead after some gunmen entered their Chakia house yesterday evening and opened fire at them killing both on the spot.

The police are yet to register an FIR in the double murder case and believe the incident was a result of old land dispute involving a valuable property. According to a few residents of the area, there could be a possibility that contract killers were hired for the mayhem.

Today, after the autopsy test was conducted on the deceased couple, bodies of the victims were handed over to their relatives for the last rites at Chakia this morning.

“The police have detained four persons for interrogation and we are probing the case from every angle,” said deputy inspector-general of police Champaran range P.K. Darad.

He, however, declined the possibility of any political motive or any other rivalry behind the incident. Darad added that the second victim, Madhumala Devi, was accidentally killed in the firing when she rushed out of the house after hearing the sound of shots.

Sanjeev was the son of a progressive farmer and an affluent in Chakia. He was the former mukhiya and also president of the block-level mukhiya association, while for the second consecutive term, his wife Madhumala was elected as the district board member of Chakia sub-division.

Sources said the deceased were posing as major threats in transaction of a costly piece of land owned by Sanjeev’s aunt near the police station at Chakia market.