Patna: The fear of a gang war is looming large over Siwan following the killing of a close associate of incarcerated don-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin in Delhi on Wednesday evening.

Three masked and armed assailants attacked Siwan resident Feroz Khan, 32, near a traffic signal in sector 23 of Dwarka in southwest Delhi around 6.30pm. Two of the assailants were arrested. The third one managed to flee.

The arrested shooters, Sabbir Hussain (28) and Amzad Ali (30), owe allegiance to Shahabuddin's rival group led by Rayees Khan. Both Sabbir and Amzad, also residents of Siwan, told the interrogators that Rayees had paid them Rs1 lakh each for eliminating Firoz.

Firoz had recently settled in Delhi's Mahipalpur area and was in the real estate business. He allegedly invited Rayees's wrath for causing hindrance in the real estate business in Siwan. Police sources said Firoz was looking after Shahabuddin's affairs in Siwan after the former MP's arrest in 2016.

Siwan additional superintendent of police Kartikey Sharma said that the district police provided to their Delhi counterparts details of the criminal past of Firoz, who was facing charges of murder, extortion and loot in police stations of Siwan.

"The security around Rayees, who is currently lodged in the Siwan district jail, has been stepped up in the wake of the murder of Firoz in the national capital," Sharma said on Thursday. "In addition, the district police are keeping a close vigil on the members of the two rival groups."

The third assailant, who managed to escape, was identified as Sanjay Yadav, a resident of Siwan's Panrukhi area. "The antecedents of the three suspects -Sanjay Yadav, Sabbir and Amzad - are being ascertained," Sharma said.

The decade-old rivalry between Rayees and Shahabuddin had claimed over a dozen lives in Siwan, around 155km northwest of Patna. Shahabuddin's henchmen had allegedly kidnapped Rayees's father Karmul Haq during the 2005 Bihar Assembly election.

Rayees's elder brother Ayub Khan also has a criminal background. A senior police officer, who had served as the Siwan superintendent of police, said that both Rayees and Ayub were associated with Shahabuddin and later parted ways and set up their own gang.

The two brothers were allegedly involved in the killing of two police officials, BK Yadav and Ganesh Prasad Yadav, in Siwan over a decade ago.

A source in the state police headquarters said a Delhi police team is likely to visit Siwan to quiz Rayees in connection with the murder of Firoz.