An insurance agent died and his wife suffered injuries when a group of people broke into the couple's residence in the Dhupguri block of Jalpaiguri district on Friday early morning and attacked the family with sharp weapons.

Mehtab Alam, 38, a resident of the Angrabhasa-Sajnapara area, was in deep sleep along with his wife Moumita Das and their two children.

Around 2am, a group of people, including a couple of women, broke into Alam's house.

"They were carrying sharp weapons and started hacking Alam. When Moumita tried to save her husband, she, too, was attacked. The children somehow escaped and took shelter at a neighbour’s place," said a source.

Alam died on the spot and the attackers fled.

Dhupguri police arrived and sent the couple to the super-specialty hospital in Jalpaiguri where doctors pronounced Alam brought-dead. Moumita, who suffered multiple injuries, is under treatment at the hospital.

The police launched a search for the attackers and soon nabbed Alam's nephew Aftab Hossain and five others. All of them are residents of Bihar, sources said.

“Preliminary investigation suggests that the attack was the fallout of a property-related dispute. There are indications that attackers were hired to kill the victim. We are collecting more details,” said a police officer.

Alam’s children said the attackers had broken a window and entered the house. They were speaking in Hindi and attacked their parents, the children have said.

Firearm seized

An improvised muzzle-loading gun was seized from a resident of Songachi tea estate in Jalpaiguri district by Matiali police on Friday.

Ratan Munda, from whom the weapon was seized, was accused of torturing his wife. According to a police complaint filed by the woman, Munda threatened to kill her with a firearm.

Munda has been arrested from his house.