New Delhi - Eight members of a family were shot and beheaded before their bodies were dumped in a river in India's eastern state of Bihar in a dispute arising from a secret marriage, officials said Wednesday.

Police in Naugachia in Bhagalpur district - located 225 kilometres east of the state capital, Patna - found the bodies in the river Tuesday.

Naugachia police chief Gopal Prasad said the killings took place after Ratan Mandal, 21, eloped with Kanchan Kumari, 18, and married secretly, fearing their families would never approve owing to an old rivalry.

"The girl's family had called the boy's family to settle the dispute but instead shot and beheaded eight of them," Prasad said. "Two managed to escape."

"The eight were butchered, and I saw wounds inflicted by sharp weapons on their bodies," he added. "We have charged 15 people from the girl's family in the case."

Violence and murder are common in Bihar, which is among India's poorest and most lawless states. (dpa)