A BSP leader was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Azamgarh district.

The killing took place on Monday night and the police have claimed that the murder is connected to a decades-old rivalry in Kundanpur village between the victim's and another family.

The police said that the BSP leader, Kalamuddin, had a criminal background, and there were murder cases against him.

Azamgarh SP Sudhir Kumar Singh said: "Kalamuddin had a criminal record, and had also been booked under the Gangsters Act. He had gone to jail twice in two murder cases. He had not been convicted in any of the cases. The murder is the result of a conflict between Kamran and Kalamuddin's families since 1984."

The SP aid that Kalamuddin was shot near the village when he returning home in his car.

The BSP leader suffered three bullet injuries, and succumbed during treatment, said the police officer.

"We are lodging the case into the incident and are yet to receive a complaint from the family of the deceased," the SP said.

The BSP leader in charge of the party's Azamgarh sector, Sunil Kumar, said Kalamuddin had been an assembly candidate for the party from the Nizamabad seat. "Though he did not hold a post at present, he was in the party and was a party leader," he added.