A building developer was shot dead on Wednesday morning at his under-construction warehouse near Paharipad, sending a chill down the spine of the city residents.

The ghastly incident occurred around 9am when the developer, Shailesh Kumar Singh (42), was sitting in a chair outside his site under the jurisdiction of Agamkuan police station. Three assailants aged between 20 and 30 years surfaced at the under-construction warehouse, opposite to Transport Nagar and barely 500m away from the Zero Mile police outpost in south Patna, all of a sudden and opened fire at him from a close range.

Shailesh, the managing director of Kalindi Construction Private Limited, died on the spot after one of the three bullets fired from 7.65mm bore firearms hitting him on his head. Two other bullets pierced into his chest and abdomen.

The victim’s driver, Sikandar, who drove Shailesh to the site from his Frazer Road home, was not on the spot when the assailants opened fire.

Sikander told the police that the killers attacked Shailesh soon after he sat in a chair outside his site.

“After occupying the chair, he asked me to bring medicines he brought for an employee bitten by a dog and a water bottle that he had mistakenly left in the car. As I was about to open the door of the car parked beside the New Bypass Road, I heard the sound of firing. I ran towards the under-construction warehouse only to find three youths escaping from there,” he said.

Sikandar said he could not recognise the assailants. By the time he reached the spot, they escaped. He, however, told the police that the killers were on foot and escaped towards south after committing the crime.

“I raised an alarm and informed my employer’s wife about the incident. A crowd assembled at the site after hearing the gunshots and the alarm raised by me,” he said.

A police patrol car parked near the Zero Mile rushed to the spot and took Shailesh to Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.

The incident has evoked sharp reactions from the people and political parties. Rajeev Kumar, a BJP activist, said: “The murder of the building developer in daylight drilled a hole in the tall claims of the state government about the improved law and order.”

Shailesh, who had earlier built apartments in the Punaichak locality, is survived by his wife, two daughters Anshi (10) and Astha (8) and son Harshwardhan (5). The children of the victim are students of a reputable public school in the city.

Anju (35), the wife of Shailesh, said her husband had left their flat at Maharaja Complex in the Frazer Road area around 8am. While leaving, he told her that he was going to the construction site at Paharipad.

“About an hour later, I got the shocking news,” she said. She fell unconscious after seeing her husband’s body at the hospital. Later, she told the police that Dharmendra Pandey, a sacked employee of Shailesh, had threatened him with dire consequences.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaj said prime facie, the incident appeared to be the fallout of a dispute over the land on which the warehouse was being constructed.

“The deceased had some sort of dispute with the wife of one Rakesh Kumar, once his business partner. Rakesh was killed in the Khushibar locality about two years ago,” the SSP said.

Rakesh’s widow Sanrakshita alleged that Shailesh had duped his business partner of his share in the 36 cottahs of land at Paharipad, the allegation always denied by Shailesh.

“Both the partners had purchased the land but Shailesh later claimed that he had made the entire payment for the plot and started constructing warehouse on it,” the SSP quoted Sanrakshita as saying.

He said a special team headed by city SP Jayant Kant had been assigned the task of cracking the mystery behind the murder of the builder. “But so far we do not have any clue in the case,” he told The Telegraph.

The SSP did not rule out the involvement of contract killers in the murder of Shailesh. “Efforts are on to ascertain the identity of the assailants. The involvement of contract killers in the incident cannot be ruled out,” Manu added.

The police said Shailesh originally hailed from Asarganj village in Munger district. He was in the real estate business for a long time and had built two apartments in the Punaichak locality. “Recently, he shifted focus to the construction of the warehouse,” said Shailesh’s brother in-law Ajit Kumar.

Shailesh’s father in-law Devnath Singh said a gold chain and a gold bangle that Shailesh was wearing, were missing. Singh, a resident of Narharpur in Saran district, claimed that the incident was pre-planned.