NEW DELHI, Feb 6 (AFP) - A respected Tibetan scholar and two of his students were murdered in an attack near the Dalai Lama's seat of power in India, newspapers said Thursday.

Police have arrested five unidentified Tibetans for questioning over the triple murder in the hill town of Dharamsala Tuesday, the United News of India (UNI) reported.

The news agency did not speculate about the motive. But The Indian Express said the murders could have been caused by a dispute over the Dalai Lama's leadership of the Tibetan community.

Police said Lobsang Gyatso, 50, died instantly after he was stabbed at his Buddhist School of Dialectics in Dharamsala by a group of men. The students who died were aged 25 and 22.

The Express said Gyatso was a staunch supporter of the Dalai Lama and that the attackers could have belonged to a rival Tibetan religious school which challenges the Dalai Lama's leadership.

The Dalai Lama's bureau here condemned the murder of Gyatso, who had been running the institute for almost two decades and was highly respected in the Tibetan community.

"It is a cold-blooded killing and we condemn this act," said the bureau's chief, T.C. Tethong.

"There is only speculation why this thing happened. The local police is investigating the murder. Linking this with any other (Tibetan) group is purely speculation," he said.

A spokesman for the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile, which is based in Dharamsala, also refused to comment on the Express report.

"We can't say anything about the motive or who did it," the spokesman told AFP by telephone. "The Indian police are on the job. We are not in a position to say anything."

Tibetan sources said the killers may have belonged to the Gelugpa sect which persists in the worship of a Tibetan deity known as Shugden Darjee, in defiance of an order from the Dalai Lama.

"The Dalai Lama has said worshipping the deity may not be proper," a Tibetan official said. "But the deity's followers believe that the tradition is 300 to 400 years old and they won't give up."

The Express said the deity's followers may be getting tacit support from Beijing, which remains steadfastly opposed to the Dalai Lama.

He and Beijing have recently clashed over the choice of the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second ranking religious leader as well as over the Dalai Lama's extensive travel during which he has met world leaders in defiance of Beijing's warnings against them.

In addition the Dalai Lama this month infuriated China by announcing he would visit rival Taiwan for the first time in late March, despite protests by China, and hold three religious rallies.

The Dalai Lama has said he was ready for peace talks with China if it could result in "genuine self-rule and autonomy" for Tibet.

Beijing is strongly opposed to both Taiwanese and Tibetan independence.

India is home to around 100,000 Tibetans, many of whom fled to India along with the Dalai Lama following a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959. Dharamsala, known as "Little Lhasa," hosts about 7,000 Tibetans.

The Dalai Lama heads the six million strong Tibetan community, which worships him like a God. However his government-in-exile is not recognised by any country including India.