The owner and staff of the White House Bar allegedly attacked journalists who had gone to cover a police raid.
A Mumbai journalist was found lying on the road in a pool of blood early on Friday morning, an hour after he left a police station where he had been all night. Raghavendra Dubey died on his way to hospital.
Late last night Mr Dubey, who ran a local newspaper, was called to the Mira Road police station on the outskirts of Mumbai by the police who said they wanted his help in tracing a journalist who had allegedly been beaten up on assignment.
The journalist Santosh Mishra was covering a police raid last night on a bar when he and another reporter Shashi Sharma were attacked allegedly by the owner and staff for taking pictures, the police said.
Police suspected that girls were being made to dance at the bar in violation of the law.
Another journalist who was present alleged, "While these people were taking photos there was an argument with the bar owner. The owner hit Santosh Mishra with a glass."
The two journalists managed to escape and are now being treated in the hospital.
But the police could not find Mr Mishra and so sought the help of Mr Dubey who, they said, was at the police station till 5 am.
He was found fatally wounded about 500 metres from the bar, Inspector General Prashant Burade said, but did not link the murder with the altercation at the bar last night.
The owner of the bar Ganesh Kamat has been arrested along with five others and police said they have rescued 14 girls from the bar.