Bokaro, Oct. 9: Four teenagers were party to the murder of BSL librarian R.P Mishra and his family late last night.

According to city police sources, four members of the gang of six that had attacked Mishra’s family were in the age group of 17 to 19 years. The leader of the gang, Pankaj Kumar, was a former student of a reputed city-based school and was at present studying in Pune.

Police said a 33-year-old neighbour of the Mishras, Mantu Kumar Mandal, had plotted the murder. They said Mantu was also an accused in the murder of an oil mill owner, Ashok Kumar Pipalwa, in Sector 4.

They added that Mantu was not on good terms with the Mishra family owing to a dispute over a boundary wall. The Mishra family had even lodged an FIR against Mantu and his two brothers, B.K Mandal and Babu Mandal, a month ago. Assistant superintendent of police Priya Dubey had visited their Sector-3E residence last week and assured the Mishra couple of “swift action”.

According to eyewitnesses, the killers had come riding two Hero Honda motorcycles, which they had parked between the quarters of Sector-2B-181 and 3/186.

Two of them had fired at Mishra and then shot his wife, Namita, in the kitchen. Three of them had entered the room of Mishra’s 19-year-old daughter, Pinki Kumari and showered bullets on the sleeping girl, before stabbing her in the throat. Mishra’s son Munna was sitting in a friend’s house when he heard the shots and sprinted towards his home. He was gunned down along with his 14-year-old brother Chunnu. Several of the neighbours had heard the gunshots but none of them had dared to intervene due to Mantu. The city police station was only a meter away from the spot.

Sources said BSL authorities had posted Mishra in the library of the community hall at Sector-3 after he lost his leg in an accident at the plant.

Bokaro police superintendent Tadasha Mishra said Mantu was the main-accused, while search is on for the teenagers — Pankaj Kumar, Rajesh and Suresh — who are suspects in the murder.

According to police, Mantu had used his paramour’s son, Pankaj, to wipe out the Mishra family. Pankaj’s mother had committed suicide three years ago. SP Tadasha Mishra, DSP Ajay Kumar Mishra, and city police officer-in-charge Javed Mehmood reached the spot soon after the news of the murder reached police. According to Mishra, the killers had “left no one alive in the family even to lodge an FIR”.

Mafia don surrenders: Underworld kingpin Guddu Khan surrendered before the chief judicial magistrate in the capital today.

Khan was an accused in the kidnap of an engineer, Jitendra Kumar, of Prakash Constructions Limited. He was also wanted in a number of criminal cases, including the recent ones lodged with the Lalpur and Lower Bazar police.

SSP M.V. Rao said police were on his trail ever since the kidnap of the engineer. A reward of Rs 50,000 had been announced for his arrest. “The task force was raiding all possible hideouts of Khan. They also went to Varanasi on a tip-off but Khan managed to escape,” Rao said.