Michael Blakey, charity worker, from Burnley, UK was murdered in India by co-worker Pawan Bharadwaj

UK charity worker was murdered in India by Indian co-worker

Pawan Bhardwaj, the husband of Rachel Owen, a British colleague of Mr Blakey who co-founded the Tong Len Charitable Trust with Michael, 23 , was arrested in Dharamsala for murderer charges.

Police said that devout Christian Michael, of Mayfair Road, Pike Hill, had been killed by blows to the head and neck with a large rock. Bhardwaj admitted to police that he had been jealous of his wife's close working relationship with Michael.

Miss Rachel Owen, 35, conceded that there had been problems with her husband coping with the more tactile Western culture, but insisted he had not killed Michael, who had acted in a similar role to best man when the couple married in a three-day hindu ceremony in July. She believed to be two months pregnant and she was too upset to speak to anybody other than her family. Michael had been having an affair were "ludicrous", and said that all of Michael's friends and colleagues in Dharamsala had been questioned by police. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that a man has been detained in connection with the investigation into the death of Michael Blakey.

The police Superintendent Patial confirmed that the charity's computer had been seized to examine its finances, to investigate the possibility of embezzled funds."If I had to speculate I would say he was killed by someone he didn't know." Another possible motive is robbery as Michael's mobile phone and wallet were missing.

Chris Blakey, elder brother of Michael said that he has appealed to people to help something good come from his death by supporting the memorial fund. We've talked about as much as we want to about Michael and what he meant to us, now we want to concentrate on raising as much money as possible for Tong Len through his memorial fund, so something positive can come out of it. The land alone will cost the charity £20,000, so we'd like to raise as much as we.

He studies from Swansea University, have been flooding into different websites, and Paul Blakey has also received a personal message of condolence from religious leader the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in Dharamsala. Hundreds of Indian villagers gathered there last week for "puja", or ritual prayers, to mark Michael's death.

Since founding the Tong-Len charity with Miss Owen and a Tibetan monk in 2004, Michael had spent months living the most basic of lives in a monastery, working to help refugee families through healthcare and education. Mr Blakey was also an active member of the Methodist church at the university, whose chaplain, the Reverend Richard Hall, said the death was "heartbreaking".