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NAGPUR: A fight over an unintentional push while dancing to the music of disc jockey (DJ) led to the murder at a wedding venue at Aman Lawn on Old Kamptee Road on Monday. The victim was of one of the wedding guests. Four people were injured in the fight. The incident triggered so much panic among guests that police are finding it tough to unearth the truth.

The victim, Nikhil Lokhande, 25, was initially dragged away from the venue by his wife Anju as a fight broke out with some persons from bride’s side. Then he got a call from someone at the wedding venue at his Panchasheel Nagar home to return. As Nikhil had not had food, he decided to return with a friend, identified as Ashish, to the venue. He is learnt to have told his wife that he needed to purchase tobacco and would return shortly.

Sources said as soon as he returned to the venue, some people pinned him down and attacked him with sharp weapons. “Nikhil had slapped a person from the bride’s side after there was a confrontation over being getting shoved while dancing. There was a fight but it did not escalate then as his wife and others had compelled him to leave the place,” said the friend. “It seems that the assailants were waiting with sharp weapons for Nikhil to return and zeroed in upon him as soon as he reached the place,” he said.

Nikhil, having sustained stab injuries, was declared dead at Mayo Hospital after being referred from a private hospital where he was first rushed by friends. Four persons — Sonu Shahu, Vicky Dongre, Akash Lokhande and Nikhil Kamble — were injured when they tried to stop the fight. Nikhil worked as a ward boy at a private hospital at Dhantoli. The victim had married around a year ago.

Guests at the wedding started running for shelter seeing armed assailants attacking Nikhil and his friends who tried to save him. Before police could reach, an injured Nikhil was taken away by his friends. It is learnt that medical assistance to Nikhil was delayed as the Kalamna railway crossing gate was closed for a goods train to pass.

Nikhil’s wife Anju and the bride Namrata Kuradkar were friends for which the victim had attended the wedding. Kalamna police have arrested Shubham Soni, his younger brother Manoj and another, identified as Rahul Bhati, for their alleged role in the murder. Sources said the assailants are likely to be closely associated with a gangster from Shanti Nagar.

