Ankit Singh and his friend, Bhupendra, were arrested on charges of killing a Dalit man.

Two men from Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh have been arrested in connection with the "dishonour killing" of a Dalit mason in Punjab's Ludhiana district two months ago.

Police said the victim - Rajkumar Ahirwar - had married Deepa from Kakrada village in Chhatarpur seven years ago against the wishes of her Thakur family. Fearing reprisals from the upper-caste community, they fled to Delhi and later settled in Ludhiana, where he began working as a mason.

However, the accused - Ankit Singh (24) and his friend Bhupendra Singh (23) - managed to trace them earlier this year and allegedly made plans to kill Rajkumar Ahirwar. Ankit Singh, who is related to Deepa, first dropped by their home on a few occasions purportedly to re-establish relations with the couple.

In April 1, he visited Ludhiana again along with Bhupendra Singh and stayed for a couple of days at Rajkumar Ahirwar's house. A couple of days later, they purchased knives from Ludhiana's Ghantaghar area and then asked the victim to drop them to the railway station on his motorcycle.

An unsuspecting Rajkumar Ahirwar agreed, but as they reached a canal in Sahnewal town, Ankit Singh slit his throat from behind. When the victim fell to the ground, the two pounced on him and stabbed him multiple times. Ankit Singh then called Deepa and said that he had killed her husband to restore the honour of their family and the Thakur community as a whole.

"Ankit Singh murdered Rajkumar Ahirwar on April 3, and a case was registered with the Sahnewal police under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. He was also threatening to kill Deepa and her children. She reported the matter to our senior police officers, following which we took him into custody and handed him to the Punjab police," Umesh Yadav, Maatguva police station in-charge, said.