Rohtak, May 25 -- A 25-year-old man was shot dead while another sustained serious injuries after being allegedly attacked by assailants in Sonepat in a suspected case of hate crime, said police on Saturday. The deceased, Bittu, of a Sonepat village was returning from work when the incident happened. The injured is undergoing treatment and is said to be critical. The accused, Mohit and Prince, were arrested following a shoot out with police nearly 10 hours after the murder. According to police investigation, the attack is linked to a love marriage that took five years ago. Police said it was against the wish of woman's family. The couple, was from same community, now has two children and they have not returned to the village since then. The accused are woman's brothers. Police said the woman's family suspected that Bittu, who was a close friend of the man, had helped the couple. The injured is man's brother. On Saturday evening, Bittu and the injured, were returning to the village from work on separate motorcycles when the accused intercepted them on Barwasni Road. Police said the accused first threw chilli powder into Bittu's eyes before opening fire. Bittu sustained three bullet injuries to his head and hand and died on the spot. The accused also allegedly fired at the second victim, who survived the attack and was admitted to hospital. Bittu's family members claimed that he had no direct involvement in the marriage and was killed unnecessarily. They alleged that the attackers actually intended to target the other victim. Soon after getting the information police teams and crime branch units launched a search operation. Late Saturday night, Crime Branch-I of Sonepat police received information that the accused were present in theJaji area on National Highway-352A. Sonepat deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Narendra Singh said that when police attempted to stop the accused on Sunday morning, they opened fire on the police team. Acting in self-defence, the police team led by inspector Rajeev retaliated, injuring both accused before arresting them. They were then admitted to Khanpur PGI under police security. Police recovered two illegal firearms and empty cartridges from their possession. A forensic science laboratory (FSL) team also collected samples from the spot. DCP said further investigation is underway to determine the source of the illegal weapons and other aspects related to the murder conspiracy....