BHOPAL - A Congress legislator was shot dead by unidentified assailants when he was returning from an election meeting in Madhya Pradesh Monday evening, police said.

Makhan Singh Jatav was shot at from a point blank range by four unidentified people near Chharetav village of Bhind district, in Madhya Pradesh’s Chambal region, around 550 km from here.

Jatav received bullet injuries in his head and was immediately rushed to a hospital in Gwalior, where doctors pronounced him dead, Inspector General of Police Arvind Kumar told IANS.

The slain legislator from Gohad assembly constituency was returning after canvassing for Bhagirath Prasad, the Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Bhind, the police official said.

A police force has been deployed outside the Gwalior hospital and also in Gohad from where Jatav was elected to the state assembly in the November 2008 polls.