AHMEDNAGAR/PUNE: A 17-year-old dalit boy was allegedly murdered and hanged from a tree over his love affair with a minor girl from an upper caste at Kharda village in Jamkhed taluka of Ahmednagar on Monday.

Deputy superintendent of police (Karjat division) Dheeraj Patil told TOI over the phone on Tuesday that the boy, Nitin Raju Aghe, was seen talking to the girl in a field by some people, including the girl's brother.

The group allegedly attacked Nitin with sticks and strangled him to death with a rope. They then hanged him from a tree, Patil said.

While the police initially registered a case of accidental death, investigations later revealed that Nitin had been killed, Patil said. The police then registered a case of murder and arrested two men — the girl's brother Sachin Golekar (21) and one Sheshrao Yeole (42). A minor boy was also detained.

The incident created a law-and-order problem and a large number of policemen were deployed in the village, Patil said. The villagers observed a bandh on Tuesday, demanding the arrest of all the suspects.

Patil denied the murder was a case of honour killing, saying the suspects had not plotted to kill Nitin. "It was a case of sudden provocation as the girl's brother and others got agitated on seeing Nitin and the girl in the field," he said.