AP Srivastava being taken to hospital on Sunday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Jan. 17: In a grim reminder to the recent spate of crime in Jamshedpur, the regional head of a Hyderabad-based infrastructure company was shot and injured at his rented Ashok Nagar house, barely a kilometre from Argora police station in the capital, this morning.

A.P. Srivastava (45) has been overseeing operations of IVRCL Infrastructure and Project Limited, entrusted with the task of electrifying villages in Maoist-hit Garhwa, Palamau and Latehar districts under Rajiv Gandhi Gram Vidyutikaran Yojana, for three years now.

The company, incidentally, is under income tax and Enforcement Directorate scanner for allegedly paying kickback to former chief minister Madhu Koda and his aides for bagging the rural electrification job.

Argora officer-in-charge Kumar Saryu Anand said around 7.45am Srivastava had just finished his morning tea with his wife and two school-going sons when the doorbell rang. “Two men entered the house and requested a job in the project. Srivastava asked them to come to his office. Before he knew what they were up to, one of the men fired two shots. The first bullet grazed the victim’s left shoulder while the other hit his right wrist,” Anand said.

Family members told the police that the duo had parked their motorbike at the gate on Road No. 1. The house that Srivastava had taken on rent originally belongs to retired DIG Tarkeshwar Prasad. “They walked up to the house, shot at my father and escaped before we knew what was happening,” said the victim’s 12-year-old son said.

Amit Kumar, a high court advocate and Srivastava’s neighbour, said he heard screams and rushed to the house. “I took him to hospital,” he said. Srivastava is under treatment, but out of danger.

Deputy superintendent of police, Hatia, Rajeev Ranjan said both accused were professional sharpshooters and might have been hired by someone who wanted to settle scores with the IVRCL boss.

“We recovered a used 7.56mm cartridge, which corroborates our suspicion about hired shooters. We have also come to know that Srivastava’s company had some dispute with contractors in Garhwa over payment,” Ranjan said.

IVRCL sources said Srivastava had been receiving threatening text messages over the past few days, but he chose to ignore them. Company consultant Abhisekh Rajput confirmed this, but added that such threats were common in the profession and Srivastava had no personal enemies.