Patna, July 4: In yet another incident of robbery attempt, two armed men shot at a truck driver coming from Uttar Pradesh, today.

Though the motive of the act was said to be robbery, the men shot at the driver — identified as Phool Singh — when he resisted the loot attempt.

The incident took place at around 4.30am near the Maa Laxmi Suudyog, a soyabean factory located on NH-30 under Didarganj police station in Patna City.

Singh has been admitted to the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) after he suffered serious injuries during the incident. The confrontation is an addition to the increasing number of criminal incidents that rocked Patna recently.

The police, who are yet to identify and arrest the attackers, said the matter was being investigated at the moment.

“The driver and his cleaner were coming from Uttar Pradesh with a truck loaded with soyabean. They decided to halt near the factory at around 1am. While the duo was sleeping, two men suddenly opened the door of the truck and got inside it at around 4.30am. The robbers demanded money but Singh refused and tried to raise an alarm. This resulted in the men firing him on his thigh. The men fled after firing. The attendant of the driver was unhurt,” an officer at the Didarganj police station said. The profusely bleeding driver was immediately rushed to the hospital for treatment.

“Singh, at present, is out of danger. The police have taken his statement. Since he is from an outside state, the question of rivalry does not arise. It was a crime for loot. The police, at present, are trying to identify the men,” the officer added.

The state capital has witnessed quite a few similar cases in the recent past with the police coming under fire.

On June 17 this year, 41-year-old goldsmith, Manoj Kumar Gupta was shot dead in daylight at the Gai Ghar area under Alamganj police station. Gupta was on an autorickshaw with 1kg gold, which he had to handover to one of his clients based in Hajipur.

On May 24, a middle-aged couple was robbed off Rs 1.25 lakh in broad daylight at gunpoint at PNT Colony area under Kotwali police station.

Dinesh Kumar, who works with the education department at Bakhtiarpur block of Patna, was on his way to a relative’s place with his wife Reshmi Devi after withdrawing money from the bank. As the couple stopped near their relative’s place, two armed men, who were following them, took the money from them at gunpoint and fled on their bike.

On May 8, criminals entered the flat of a retired professor and decamped with valuables worth lakhs after locking the old lady in her bathroom in daytime.

In April, two criminals snatched Rs 2 lakh from a couple, who were moving on a bike, right in front of the residence of Patna superintendent of police in daylight.

“Such incidents have definitely taken place but arrests have been made too. The police were successful in cracking the PNT Colony loot and also the murder of the jeweller cases. The police are on an alert and the required work is being done,” a police officer said.