india

Updated: Aug 16, 2015 11:23 IST

A soldier was beaten to death by several men in Meerut when he tried to prevent them from molesting a girl, police said.

Vedmitra Choudhary, a Lance Naik with the 416 Engineering Brigade of the Indian Army, was out to buy milk in TP Nagar neighbourhood when he saw one of the men, Akash Saini, allegedly trying to molest the teenage daughter of a shop-owner.

Choudhary went to help the girl and slapped Saini, who immediately called his friends to help men. The men then allegedly assaulted the soldier with iron rods, inflicting serious head injuries.

The soldier, who lived in TP Nagar with his wife and children, was rushed to a private hospital and then to a nearby military hospital.

"Last night, he succumbed to his head injuries during treatment," Meerut’s superintendent of police OP Singh said on Saturday.

Saini and two of his friends were arrested and police have launched a search for the other accused in the attack.

Teams have been dispatched to different locations to arrest the other men involved in the attack, Singh said. A case of murder was registered against the three arrested men and their friends.