Hyderabad, March 21 (IANS): A hotel owner was stabbed to death by two unidentified assailants in a busy area in broad daylight following an altercation over tea here on Friday, police said.

The incident occurred in the busy Begumpet area here, police said.

Angry over the delay in serving tea, two men tried to assault a hotel employee but hotel owner Jehangir intervened to rescue him. The customers left after warning Jehangir of dire consequences.

The men later returned and attacked the hotel owner with daggers as other customers and passersby watched in horror. The attackers fled the scene after a man tried to intervene. Jehangir died while being shifted to a hospital.

The images of the attack was captured on a CCTV camera on the road. Police suspect involvement of two men with criminal records in the incident and are trying to identify them with the help of captured images. Old enmity between the hotel owner and the assailants is suspected to be the cause of the murder.