Bengaluru: A toll plaza employee was killed by a mob over an alleged delay in opening the boom barrier in Karnataka's Bidai town late on Sunday night, police said. He was 26.

The victim has been identified as Pawan Kumar. His colleague, Manjunath, received serious injuries in the attack by unknown people in Bidadi town of Ramanagara, which is some 35 km from the capital Bengaluru.

"An FIR has been registered at Bidadi police station. We found out that the accused belonged to Bengaluru. We are investigating further," said Karthik Reddy, superintendent of police, Ramanagar.

According to the police, four people were traveling in a car towards Mysuru on Sunday night around 10 pm. When they reached the toll plaza, they had an argument over the delay in lifting the toll booth barrier.

Soon, the argument turned into a full-blown fight, the police said, adding that the locals intervened to put an end to the fight.

The four accused men stopped a few meters ahead of the toll plaza till Pawan Kumar and his colleague came out of the toll booth at 12 in the night for dinner, the police added.

As soon as they walked away from the booth, these men attacked them with hockey sticks and fled from the spot, it added further.

A manhunt has been launched to arrest the accused.