A first information report was lodged on Saturday against Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party MLA Chandrabhadra Singh and five others in connection with the killing of a godman and seven others by unidentified gunmen in the district Friday evening.

The FIR was registered at Handia police station against the MLA from Israuli constituency of Sultanpur, his brother Brijbhadra Singh and four others. It charges them with the murder and criminal conspiracy in the shoot-out near Bagaha railway crossing under Handia police circle area, police sources said.

The controversial godman, Sant Gyaneswar was an accused in the murder of the Singh's father Indrabhadra Singh, who was an MLA from a constituency in Sultanpur district in the late 1990s.

Sources said that a Special Task Force team was to arrive from Lucknow to investigate the incident, even as raids were being carried out at various places in the district and outside to nab the alleged assailants.

Gyaneshwar and seven others including his disciples and personal security guards were shot dead by unidentified gunmen last evening while they were on their way from the Sangam to Varanasi, police said.

The assailants, said to be over a dozen in number, rode two four wheelers, overtook Gyaneswar's vehicle and fired indiscriminately, killing him and five others on the spot.

Two others succumbed to their injuries in the SRN hospital, police said.