The son of a local Bharatiya Janata Party leader was killed after he intervened to pacify two groups of people who were fighting over the digging of a borewell in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district, the police said on Thursday.
Four others were injured in the incident -- one of them critically -- which took place near Pigdamber village, said an official.
Following the incident, authorities on Thursday demolished alleged illegal constructions of the prime accused in the village.
Sujit Chohan (22), son of former Mhow block president of the BJP Kisan Morcha Udal Singh Chohan, was killed when he intervened in a fight between two groups on Wednesday night, said Kishanganj police station in-charge Kuldeep Khatri.
One of the groups was led by Kuldeep Thakur and the other by Raja Verma alias Raju Khatik, he said.
Khatik and his men allegedly hit Sujit on the head with iron rods, the police officer said.
Sujit and four others were rushed to a hospital where doctors declared Sujit brought dead.
The condition of Kuldeep Thakur was said to be critical.
A case was registered against Raja Verma, Lokesh Verma, Malkesh Verma, Mannu Kanhaiyalal, Rohit Banwari, Raj Kapoor alias Bhoora and Rakesh Don, and further probe was underway, the officer said.
"Raju Khatik, the prime accused, has been arrested. A manhunt has been launched to arrest others. Two illegally constructed structures of Khatik have been demolished," Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra told reporters in Bhopal.
"No criminal, howsoever big he may be, will be spared. This is Shivraj Singh Chouhan's government," Mishra added.
The police have been deployed in large numbers in and around Pigdamber, 12 km from Indore city, where two houses of the prime accused were razed to the ground using heavy machinery.
On Wednesday night, angered by the killing and violence, residents of Pigdamber blocked the Mhow-Indore road for around 40 minutes to seek action against the culprits.
The protest affected road traffic for some time, the police officials said.