Gunmen kill rural body head in India's Punjab

NEW DELHI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen on Thursday shot dead Sandeep Singh Cheena, a rural body head locally called Sarpanch in the northern Indian state of Punjab, police said.

The assailants fired upon Cheena at his factory in Dosarka in Hoshiarpur district, about 102 km east of the Amritsar city.

Police said though he was removed to the nearest health facility, the doctors there declared him brought dead.

The 45-year-old was a Dalit leader. Police have registered a case and ordered an investigation into the killing.

Dalits were previously known as untouchables in India and fell at the lowest end of the complex hierarchy of caste in Hinduism.