Shaloni, in his late twenties, was beaten to death in Kotla in Delhi.
Three people have been arrested and charged with murder for the death of a former call centre employee from Manipur, who was severely beaten up by a group of men in south Delhi late last night. The Delhi Police now say that road rage led to the murder.
After day-long investigations, in which they have used CCTV footage from the area, the police said this evening that there was so far no evidence to suggest a racial attack.
Shaloni - a man in his late twenties who was now unemployed - was strolling with two friends in Kotla Mubarakpur on Sunday night, when a white Maruti Alto car almost hit them, the police said. There was an altercation and the group of five men in the car got out and allegedly beat up Shaloni, while his friends reportedly fled and called the police at about 3.30 am.
The police took a badly injured Shaloni to the trauma centre at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or AIIMS, where he was declared dead.
Both groups of men had been drinking, a police officer said, adding that Shaloni was not singled out for attack. While three of the alleged attackers were tracked down and arrested after questioning, two others are absconding.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said earlier in the day, "It seems like a pre-planned and unprovoked attack. The Home Ministry will probe the death."
Shaloni, who lived in Delhi's Munirka, was a Naga man from Tonjoy village in Manipur's Senapati District. Activists from the North East have alleged that his death was a "hate crime" and another in a long list of cases of racial discrimination in the capital.
Earlier this year, Nido Tania, a 20-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh died after being beaten with iron rods and sticks by a group of men in a market in Delhi's Lajpat Nagar, not far from where Shaloni died.
Nido's death had led to street protests and a national debate on discrimination against Indians from the North East.