A 17-year-old Kashmiri boy, who worked at a catering firm here, died after allegedly being beaten by his colleague over a petty issue, police said on Friday.

An investigation into the incident was launched and the accused arrested, the police said. Basit, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara, was thrashed by the accused, Aditya (24), while they were returning home from a wedding in a pick-up van on Wednesday night, said Jaipur Police Commissioner Anand Srivastava. An argument broke out between the two after Aditya stopped Basit from tapping the windowpane of the vehicle.

Aditya then thrashed Basit but other employees intervened and the two returned to their seats, the officer said.

Basit reached his rented accommodation and complained of vomiting and his friends took him to SMS hospital in the morning, the commissioner said. Doctors performed surgery to treat Basit, but he showed no signs of improvement and died on Thursday night, the officer said. The body was handed over to family members after a post-mortem and they have left for Kashmir, he said.