A case has been registered against the accused (Representational)

Two brothers were killed with one of them hacked to death today over a land dispute in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district, the police said.

Nand Kishore (35) was attacked by Ramjit and his accomplices Subhash and Rajesh when he was going to the local police station to lodge a complaint in connection with the dispute, they said.

Hearing Kishore's screams, his elder brother Arvind rushed to his help, but the accused attacked and injured him too. Arvind was taken to a health centre where he was declared brought dead, police said.

Kishore was hacked to death with a sickle and he died on the spot, they said, adding that a search has been launched to arrest the perpetrators.

On Monday evening, Ramjit had allegedly attempted to occupy the disputed land in Parsadiya village and this had led to an altercation between him and Kishore, the police said, adding that elders of the village intervened and pacified them.

Senior police official, Kheri, Poonam, who visited the spot along with other senior officials, said "the land dispute between them was the reason behind the double murder." Poonam said a case in connection with the disputed land is pending in court.

The police have registered a case against Ramjit, Subhash and Rajesh and efforts are on to arrest them, the police officer added.