A Haryana police sub-inspector was beaten to death outside his home on Thursday night, allegedly by men from his neighbourhood.

Sub-inspector Ramesh Kumar, 57, was trying to stop a group of men from creating a ruckus outside his house in the Dhani Shyam Lal area around 11pm.

According to police, the group dispersed after he scolded them, only to return with bricks and sticks. They struck him repeatedly, fatally injuring his head.

Superintendent of police of Hisar, Shashank Kumar Sawan said, “The attackers lived in the same neighbourhood.”

Kumar, who was posted at the office of the additional director general of police, was just two months away from retirement. He is survived by two daughters and a son.

Ten people have been booked in connection with the killing, and five have been arrested. Police have seized a car and a scooter used by the accused.

The killing has sparked outrage and political backlash.

Indian National Lokdal president Abhay Singh Chautala said this was a Haryana “forged by the BJP's double-engine catastrophe” where fear has replaced law.

He called the sub-inspector’s killing not just the murder of one officer but “the corpse of Haryana's law and order lying abandoned on the streets.”

"Today, every Haryanvi has just one question: if those tasked with providing security to the state are not safe, then how will the common man survive this double engine catastrophe," he said.