Puttur : A 30-year-old man was stabbed to death by a gang in full public view during Ganeshotsav festival at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district allegedly over personal rivalry, police said on Wednesday.

The three accused were at large, they said.

Karthik Merla, who is the secretary of Hindu Jagaran Vedike, was attending the Yakshagana programme during Ganeshotsava in the town Tuesday night when the gang allegedly stabbed him to death near the Sampya police station.

“The accused are absconding. We are searching them,” a police officer told PTI. Situation turned tense in the communally sensitive district after news of the murder spread like a wildfire.