Criminals on Thursday evening shot at a reader, Ajit Kumar Yadav, who works at the office of the deputy inspector-general (DIG), Munger zone.

The incident occurred around 10pm near Taliya Talab under Naya Ramnagar police station, about 8km from Munger district headquarters, when Ajit was returning to his house at Milkichak on his motorcycle.

Around six armed criminals, mostly teenagers, who attacked Yadav also snatched his cellphone and Rs 1,600.

He was shot at from point-blank range when he resisted the criminals’ loot attempt. Yadav was rushed to Munger sadar hospital where the doctors operated on his leg to remove the bullet.

“It is a case of road robbery. He is now out of danger. He is lucky that he was hit on the leg,” Anil Kishore Yadav, the Munger DIG, said.

He said the superintendent of police Munger, P. Kannan, was asked to initiate a special operation against the criminals and counter the rising number of criminal incidents. “Nobody has been arrested in the case so far,” he added.

Earlier, Jamalpur township witnessed largescale violence from April 9 to 11 against the kidnapping and murder of a Class VII student, Aditya Raj. The people demanded that the accused be handed over to them.