Bhopal, Jun 6 (IANS): Ex-armyman Braj Mohan Sharma, who had fought in the Kargil war in 1999, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his home town in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district, the police said on Monday.

Police recovered the retired soldier's body tied with stones and a rope from a well. In its preliminary investigation, the police suspect that Sharma was killed due to electoral rivalry as he was contesting the Zilla Panchayat elections. Sharma was missing since June 1 and the family had filed a missing person complaint with the police.

Police said that an unidentified corpse was found in a well built in Bhaiya Saheb Yadav's field in Rijodi village under Bamor Kala police station. "When relatives were called to identify the body, it came out that he was a former soldier, Braj Mohan Sharma. The deceased was tied with stones and thrown into the well," Puneet Bajpai, Bamor Kala police station in-charge, said.

After lodging a case, the postmortem was done and the body was handed over to the relatives, Bajpai said adding that Sharma was preparing to fight the Zilla Panchayat elections.

Murari Lal Sharma, brother of the deceased, said that Braj Mohan Sharma was in the army for 27 years. "After retirement from the service, he returned to his village. He was living his life according to the rules of the army. He used to do everything according to the rules and the law," he added.

He said that Braj Mohan had contested the Sarpanch election last time also, but lost by 17 votes. This time he was contesting for the Zilla Panchayat.