Two farmers were stabbed to death by unidentified persons in Uttar Pradesh Kanpur Nagar district, police said on Wednesday.
Raju (30) and Vineet (32) had gone to the agricultural field to take care of their crops from stray animals on Tuesday evening but did not return home, the police said.
Their bodies were discovered on Wednesday morning lying beside a road near their field at Khojkipur village under Chaubepur police station area, 48 km from Kanpur city, an officer said.
The deceased had deep slashes on their necks, hands and chest. The motive behind the gory killings is yet to be established, district Superintendent of Police (Rural) Pradyumna Singh said.
Infuriated over the incident, villagers raised slogans and tried to stage a protest, but senior officials persuaded them to not take law into their own hands. They were assured that the murder case will be solved in the next 24 hours, an officer said.
Kanpur Inspector General of Police Mohit Agarwal said three teams had been formed to to crack the case and arrest the culprits. He added that district police chief Anant Deo had been asked supervise the investigation.
The inspector general said the deceased's families did not raise suspicion on anyone so far, but the probe suggested some possible motives that could be the reason behind the killings.