Pune, May 24 (PTI)A 22-year-old youth was killed in Wadgaon Maval area of Pune district on Friday night for having a "provocative" WhatsApp status message, police said on Sunday.

Yash Awale was killed in Takwe village while out on a walk and seven people have been arrested in connection with the crime, an official said.

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"At around 10:15pm, seven to eight people came on three motorcycles and four of them attacked Awale on the head with a sharp-edged weapon. We have arrested seven people in the 19-23 age group for the crime on Saturday," he said.

The Wadgaon Maval police station official said the accused and the deceased have previous enmity.

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"Apparently, the deceased kept a provocative status message on WhatsApp which irked the accused and the murder could be a result of this. We are probing all angles including this one,' he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)