A man was stabbed to death by three car-borne youths when he attempted to save another person in Jammu region's Kathua district, an area already tense after the rape and murder of an eight year-old girl.
Liyaqat was stabbed to death when he was attempting to save the life of a person, identified as Abid, from three youths, who were attacking him with sharp-edged weapons, at Dher village in the district last night, police said.
"Two to three youths came in a Swift Dezire car. They had planned to attack Abid over some personal rivalry. But Liyaqat intervened to save Abid's life. In the melee, he (Liyaqat) was stabbed by the accused," newly-appointed Senior Superintendent of Police, Kathua, Sridhar Patil said today.
The SSP said Abhishek, Honey and another person were arrested, following a complaint filed by Nishant Kouser at the Billawar police station.
Liyaqat succumbed to injuries during treatment, Patil said.
The victim was around 23 to 34 years of age, police said.
The officer said special teams headed by Inspector Amit Sangra raided different locations and arrested the accused from near the Sukrala area here.
Kathua district has been tense since last month after the crime branch filed a charge sheet against seven people in connection with the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in January this year.
The killing led to lot of rumours causing an uneasy calm to prevail in the district, around 90 km from here.
Jammu and Kashmir Police took to social networking sites to dispel rumours.
"Billawar Murder outcome of old rivalry, not hate crime. Incident occurred due to scuffle between 2 individuals in which Liyakat Ali got seriously injured and later succumbed. Incident does not have communal angle. People are requested not to pay heed to rumours," it said on its official Twitter handle.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)