Hyderabad, May 21 (IANS): In another 'honour' killing in Hyderabad, a 24-year-old man was killed in public in front of his father over an inter-caste love marriage.

Neeraj Kumar Panwar (22) was stabbed to death by five men, said to be relatives of his wife, near the busy fish market in Begum Bazar area under Shahinayathgunj police station limits on Friday night.

The young businessman was returning home along with his father Rajender Panwar after closing the shop when the assailants attacked from behind on his head with a granite stone. As he fell down, they stabbed him with a sickle used to cut coconut.

Panwar, resident of Kolsawadi in Begum Bazar area who was into retail groundnut business, had a love marriage about one-and-a-half years ago with Sanjana (20), a resident of the same area but belonging to another caste. A child was born to them about one-and- a-half months ago.

As Sanjana's family was against the marriage, they developed a grudge against Neeraj. They were allegedly planning murder for last six months. For one week they conducted a recee to know Neeraj's movements from shop to his house. Since the weather on Friday was cloudy and there were not many people on the road, they decided to execute the plot.

The assailants, who came on two bikes, escaped after committing the crime. Police shifted Neeraj to hospital, where the doctors declared him dead.

Traders gathered on the road and staged a protest demanding immediate arrest of the accused and stringent punishment. They called for a bandh in Begum Bazar on Saturday.

Police examined CCTV footage and picked up a few suspects. Working on some clues, police on Saturday apprehended four accused at Gurumitkal in Karnataka, about 150 km from Hyderabad.

According to the victim's relatives, he had approached police a year ago seeking protection as he was facing threat to his life from wife's family.

This was the second honour killing in Hyderabad in less than a month. On May 4, a 25-year-old man was hacked to death in Saroornagar over an inter-faith marriage.

Billapuram Nagaraju was murdered in public in front of his wife by her brother and another relative.

Nagaraju had married Ashrin Sultana after the latter eloped with him early this year.