A home guard jawan, his son and nephew were brutally murdered by their relatives in village Bansa Tarkheda in the Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh early on Monday morning.

According to the police, initial investigations pointed to an old enmity over a month old dispute between the Home Guard jawan and the accused as the motive behind the triple murder.

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Villagers said that there was a land dispute too between the family members.

Damoh SP Shrutikirti Somvanshi said the deceased home guard jawan, Ramesh Vishwakarma (50), was first shot before his throat being slit by a sharp-edged weapon inside the house of another relative of the family.

The relative told the police that the accused had threatened to kill Ramesh and his family today. To save Ramesh, he called him at his house and asked other family members to inform Ramesh’s son, Umesh Vishwakarma (23) and nephew Vikas Vishwakarma alias Vikky (24) about the threat.

However, the three main accused, who were named as Rajababu Vishwakarma, Golu Vishwakarma and Sajal Vishwakarma, barged into the relative’s house where Ramesh was present at around 7 am.

They threatened the family members with guns against intervening and shot Ramesh Vishwakarma with a pistol. Subsequently, the accused slit Ramesh’s throat with a sword. As Ramesh died on the spot the three accused went out in search of his son and nephew.

Still unaware of Ramesh Vishwakarma’s murder, his son Umesh and nephew Vikas were on their way to Damoh on a motorcycle to attend their coaching class. The accused accosted them at the village square at around 7.30 am and fired several shots at the two youths. Both the cousins died on the spot and the accused fled from the spot.

After villagers informed the police about the incident, a heavy police force was rushed to the village. The police recovered around 15 empty bullet shells from the spot where Umesh and Vikas were murdered.

SP Somvanshi said police teams have been formed to arrest the three main accused.

The police are also probing the role of some others who have also been named by the family of the deceased to be involved in the murders.