Bahadur Bista of Gora village Bijaypur-7 in the district Sunday night.

Seriously injured due to bullet injuries, Bista breathed his last on the way to the District Hospital for treatment early Monday morning.

Relatives of the deceased said local YCL cadres-- Karna Dhami and Ramesh Mahara-- shot him over a land related dispute among locals. Police said the accused are still at large.

Locals tried to take an injured Bista to hospital on Sunday night itself. However, as they were approaching the hospital after a whole night's trek, he succumbed to his injuries near Khucheuda Mode.

According to senior health assistant Gagansingh Mauni, a bullet pierced Bista's left abdomen and came out from the right. However, a postmortem could not be performed due to the absence of the doctor.

YCL cadres had shot Bista while they were taking him for "interrogation" over a land

dispute between the Bistas of Gora area and locals

of Rauleshwor belonging to the Madais caste.

"First, they (YCL) beat him up," said one of those who carried Bista. "And when we asked them not to beat him and to settle the dispute through

discussion, they took Bista away saying they had some 'secrets', and we heard shots afterwards."

Locals said YCL cadres took Bista to the maize field of one Dhan Bahadur Bista of ward-7 and shot him there.

However, the Maoists here maintain that the two accused are not their cadres.

Meanwhile, issuing a press statement in Kathmandu, CPN-UML, denounced the murder of its cadre Bista. "The violent atrocities of Maoists, which are poised to form the government now, are yet to end and this will surely bring a crisis in the politics of consensus," the statement read.

The party also demanded strong action against YCL cadres involved in the murder and compensation for the bereaved