Four persons were arrested on Wednesday in Karnataka's Suratkal town near Mangaluru for the alleged murder of a 32-year-old man, who was part of the BJP’s social media team.
"The suspects were arrested when they were trying to escape after attacking the victim - Deepak Rao - at Katipalla in the town," Dakishna Kannada Superintendent of Police SK Reddy told IANS.
Rao, a sales executive with a mobile phones distributor, in Mangaluru, about 350km from Bengaluru, was riding a motorbike at Katipalla when the accused waylaid and assaulted him with a machete between 1.30-2 pm.
"A bleeding Rao was rushed to a private hospital at Suratkal for emergency treatment, but doctors declared him dead," said Reddy.
Mangaluru Police Commissioner TR Suresh said that the suspects were nabbed after they were chased and intercepted by police which fired at the car in which they were fleeing from the crime spot.
"We recovered the weapon (machete) with which Rao was hacked," added Reddy.
The four arrested were identified as Mulky Naushad, Rizwan, Pinky Nawaz and Nirshan.
Right wing outfit Bajrang Dal also claimed that Rao was one of its members in the coastal district.
Earlier, on Wednesday, activists belonging to pro-Hindu groups gathered at the hospital to protest Deepak's death.
“What happened today is an inhuman killing and the Popular Front of India (PFI) has done this to spread fear in the district. Deepak was regular in attending programmes held by pro-Hindu groups and they have killed an innocent man who has no case against him,” said Sharan Pumpwell, Convenor of the Bajrang Dal for South Karnataka.
Meanwhile, state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy rushed Additional Director General of Police Kamal Pant to the town to inquire into the incident.
The state government also deployed additional police to maintain law and order and ensure peace, as the BJP and Bajrang Dal called for a day-long shutdown in the coastal district on Thursday in protest against the murderous attack on Rao.
(With IANS inputs)