Patna: Sharp differences have arisen in the BJP over the beheading of a 71-year-old tea kiosk owner in Darbhanga, while Darbhanga MP Kirti Azad appealed to his former party and the Prime Minister to stop polarising people of the district.

Family members claimed Ramchandra Yadav was killed for having named a place "Narendra Modi Chowk" but deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi tweeted: "Totally false that murder in Darbhanga case of naming Modi Chawk. Case of land dispute. Board was put long back, Murder has nothing to do with Board."

Government sources said Sushil towed the state government line as senior police officials called the killing fallout of a long-running land dispute soon after the incident. On Saturday evening, state BJP chief Nityanand Rai and Union minister Giriraj Singh visited Ramchandra's Babu Bhadwa village under the jurisdiction of Sadar police station. They also went to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) to meet Ramchandra's younger son Kamaldev Yadav, seriously injured in the attack.

Nityanand said some people wanted to remove the board and Ramchandra and his family, including Kamaldev and elder son Tej Narayan Yadav, a local BJP leader, resisted it. He also claimed the police have twisted the case. "Family members and the injured said a few persons came on 3-4 motorcycles and tried to uproot the board, but were driven away by Ramchandra and the others. Then the mob came," Nityanand said. "They were looking for Tej Narayan, but he was not there. They then attacked Ramchandra. Kamaldev resisted and was seriously injured. The police threatened the family and Kamaldevand took statements under coercion to show the incident as fallout of a land dispute." He blamed additional SP Dilnawaz Ahmad too. "The additional SP has played a partisan role. It should be probed. We're taking it seriously." He said Kamaldev accepted before everybody, including the the local media that Dilnawaz coerced him to give a false statement.

Additional director general (police headquarters) S.K. Singhal iterated that the incident was outcome of a land dispute between two families and had nothing to do with the naming of the public place. The police has arrested three persons so far.

Former cricketer and Darbhanga MP Kirti Azad, who has been suspended from the BJP, appealed to the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop polarising Darbhanga, as people of Mitihilanchal were peace-loving by nature. "@BJP4India please don't polarise #Darbhanga capital of #Mithila land of #MaaSita. Land dispute is not communal @AmitShah ji you suspended me for exposing corruption. We #Mithilanchalis are peace loving people. @narendramodi bhai please help. Stop divisive forces humble prayer," he tweeted.