Nidhi Barak, 20, a fine arts student, and Dharmender Barak, 23, who was studying at technical college, were killed last night as locals in Gharnavati village in the Indian state of Haryana watched on.
The pair had eloped to nearby Delhi on Tuesday because their families did not approve of their relationship.
Miss Barak's parents and uncle have been arrested and police are now trying to trace her brother and other family members who disappeared missing since the crime. According to police the couple were tortured for several hours at Miss Barak's home before she was beaten to death in full public view.
Dharmender Barak was beaten and his arms and legs broken, before he was beheaded. His body was allegedly dumped near his family's home at a public square in the village.
Police, who had been alerted by a villager, reportedly caught Miss Barak's family cremating her body on a pyre.
'We have arrested her father, mother and uncle and we are looking for her brother, a friend and driver of the car in which the couple were brought back to her home in Gharnavati village.