The body of a 32-year-old man with his face disfigured was found dumped at a field in Thane district of Maharashtra, a police official said on Wednesday.
Two persons have been booked in connection with the killing of the man, identified as Shivram Shetty, a resident of Kamba village in Kalyan taluka, he said.
Some passers-by spotted the body at a field in the village on Tuesday and informed the police who rushed to the spot and sent it for postmortem, the official at Kalyan taluka police station said.
He said the assailants, identified as Ranjit and Bhola, both also natives of the same village, had some old enmity with Shetty.
They allegedly strangled him to death and later smashed his face with a stone or a heavy object, the official said, adding that the incident apparently took place between Sunday and Tuesday.
Based on a complaint filed by a family member of the deceased, the accused were booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 34 (common intention), he said.
No arrest has been made so far, he added.