Bike-borne criminals shot at an employee of a private firm and looted Rs 4.5 lakh from his possession in Gaya town, around 110km south of Patna, on Saturday.

The incident took place around 10.30am, when two employees of a private firm, Sri Trading Private Company Ltd, were walking towards the Purani Bazaar branch of Bank of India to deposit the money.

The criminals intercepted Vicky Kumar on Mir Abu Saleh Road and tried to snatch the money bag. The criminals opened fire when Vicky fled into a shop dealing in marble. The bullets, however, missed the target. The assailants followed Vicky and his colleague Shiv Shankar into the shop. One of them then fired at Vicky from close range and snatched the bag.

However, the doctors were keeping a close watch on his health parameters because he bled excessively. "Vicky had suffered bullet injuries in his arm, an investigating officer said.

Gaya city superintendent of police Awakash Kumar said the entire incident was recorded on the CCTV camera installed at GL Marble Shop.

"The robbers had arrived on the spot from GB Road on the motorbike," he added.

"Prima facie, it appears that robbers had conducted a recce of the area before committing the offence as the area hums with activity at daytime. Efforts are on to ascertain the identity of the robbers with the help of the CCTV footage," the city SP told The Telegraph.

The distance of the site of occurrence from the firm's office is barely 500m. The two employees used to deposit money in the bank. "The bank was closed on Friday. So we had decided to send the staff to deposit the money today (Saturday)," said a senior official of the company.

On March 7 this year, armed robbers had looted Rs 25 lakh after shooting at the driver of a car when they money was being transported to Itawah branch of Punjab National Bank from its Gaya main branch. All the five robbers were arrested and the looted money was recovered from them the same day.

"The loot of cash belonging to Sri Trading on Saturday has exposed the tall claims of the police that patrolling was satisfactory in the town, which see a large number of foreign and domestic tourists every year. If such a situation continues, people would slowly but surely lose faith in the law-enforcing agency," said a local businessman.

The trader was so panic-stricken that he requested not to disclose his identity, else he would receive extortion calls. "The situation has deteriorated to such a low that people want to return home by evening. Earlier, shops and business establishments remained open till 10pm," the businessman said.