Two persons were on Friday night beaten to death by activists of the banned Maoist Communist Centre at Pipra village in Bihar's Gaya district after a jan adalat (a MCC kangaroo court) declared them criminals, police said in Gaya on Saturday.

Gaya Superintendent of Police Ravindran Shankran told PTI that the two were summoned to the jan adalat, which announced the capital punishment to them.

After the verdict, the assembled activists beat the two to death with lathis, he said.

The bodies of the victims had been recovered, Shankran said adding a search had been launched for the culprits.