Man butchers Rickshaw driver to death in Hyderabad. Passersby mute witness

The killer brought the knife down on Shakeer Qureshi's twitching body like a butcher carving meat, striking the auto driver's neck again and again without heed to the setting around him -- a busy Hyderabad street full of mute witnesses.

One man stood just feet away and watched, hands in his pockets, as the knife pierced what appeared to be Qureshi's neck. The weapon fell like a macabre drumbeat as the killer, Abdul Khaja, also an auto driver, held his victim's head in place.

There appeared to be at least two policemen, one of them a traffic cop, at the scene.

Shakeer Qureshi, 30, suffered 25 stab wounds, a police officer said later. When Khaja stood, gestured and stamped as he screamed something, and let his bloodied weapon fall to the pavement, Qureshi appeared to have stopped moving.

Perhaps he was already out of his misery.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Zone) Ambar Kishore Jha said the Mirchowk police reached the spot in 10 minutes, and that Qureshi's body was taken to Osmania General Hospital mortuary for a post-mortem.

What was Abdul Khaja's motive? Here's what happened, according to the police: Khaja gave his auto to Qureshi, who in turn gave it to somebody else to ride. When Khaja confronted Qureshi, the latter used curse words to insult his mother and sister. That's when he killed him.

Khaja, who is 29, was heard saying no one could disrespect his family -- and that he would do anything to protect them.

Four public hackings have happened in Hyderabad, Telangana's capital, in the last three months. In September, a man committed murder in broad daylight in front of hundreds of people (He was later arrested.). Only a few tried to intervene.

When the killer -- who used an axe -- was finished, he posed jubilantly and walked away.