MUZAFFARNAGAR: Three people were found killed in Muzaffarnagar district of western Uttar Pradesh Sunday.
The police said the three workers were returning to their homes in Bahadurpur Kheri Viran village after finishing duties in a chemical factory situated on the Panipat-Khatima Highway.
They had left the factory at 12 midnight and were supposed to reach home in an hour.
But when they did not turn up till 4 a.m., their family members launched a search.
After an hour, the villagers found the three bodies in the agriculture fields near their locality.
"The bodies were partly stripped with their pants missing while they had been killed with sharp-edged weapons," claimed the villagers.
The villagers placed the bodies on the highway and halted traffic. Following the traffic jam, the police reached the spot and tried to restore vehicular movement on the highway. But the adamant villagers claimed communal hatred was the reason behind the killings.
Soon, the district magistrate and the SSP reached the spot and assured the villagers that the killers would be arrested. It was only then that traffic movement could be restored.
The deceased were identified as Sunder, 27, Surender, 26, and Kunwar Pal, 32.
DIG Saharanpur N. Ravindran said: "A case has been registered and teams have been constituted to nab the assailants. The district administration has recommended a compensation of Rs.5 lakh to the next of kin of each of the dead."