A bridegroom in New Delhi has been killed by a stray bullet after a member of his wedding party opened fire to celebrate the occasion.

Deepak Kumar, 21, was shot while leading the party to his bride's home in the Indian capital on Tuesday evening.

Police said a guest dancing with the wedding party opened fire but a stray round struck the husband-to-be.

A New Delhi wedding ended in tragedy when the groom was hit by a stray celebratory bullet (File picture)

The victim was a bus conductor and the sole breadwinner of his family, it was reported.

'He collapsed and was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead after midnight,' Nupur Prasad, deputy commissioner of Delhi police, told AFP.

Firing weapons in the air at weddings and other festivities is a common celebration across South Asia and is known as 'ghudchadhi' in India.

The practice is illegal in India but remains rife, though fatalities are relatively few.

Prasad said the groom's family had identified the man who fired the bullet.

One of the guests said that firing guns in the air at weddings is a family tradition (File picture)

'It is an ongoing investigation and we are trying to ascertain the source of his weapon,' he said.

Amit, one of the wedding guests, told the Times of India newspaper there 'were a couple of people carrying guns for celebratory firing, which is considered a tradition in the family'.

Police have not yet managed to recover the gun, the paper reported.

The incident was reported around 8.30pm and police arrived at the scene soon after.

The groom's relatives had by then taken him to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.

Police are looking to interview the videographer, who left after the shooting, as well as others who attended the wedding, the Times of India said.

In 2016 a groom was accidentally blasted in the head by a guest at his own wedding in India - but somehow survived.