Patna, Jan. 6: A liquor shop owner today got a taste of lawlessness in the city when three bike-borne youths followed him from a bank, fired at him and fled with his two-wheeler as well as the withdrawn cash kept in its luggage box.

The daylight robbery near Bahadurpur bridge at 12.30pm comes a day after two women witnessed a terrorising dacoity at their home in the Hardinge Park Road area. The back-to-back crimes in the heart of the city reflect the poor state of affairs of policing in the state capital.

The bike-borne criminals spotted the liquor shop owner, Jeetendra Kumar, after he withdrew Rs 3.8 lakh from a bank and kept it in his two-wheeler’s luggage box. They followed him to his shop. When Jeetendra alighted from his two-wheeler, the trio demanded his bike’s keys. Refused, one of the criminals fired at Jeetendra.

The bullet just grazed past Jeetendra’s right palm, but he slumped to the ground out of fear. Two criminals snatched his bike’s keys and fled on it towards the Agamkuan area of Patna City. The other criminal fled in the same direction sitting on the bike the trio had come on.

Jeetendra is nursing his minor injuries at home. Police were clueless about the criminals opening fire at him till late evening despite interrogating Jeetendra and his employee, Murari, an eyewitness to the incident.

Jeetendra, the owner of New Paimana Wine Shop under Bahadurpur bridge, pulled up its shutters around 10am. Murari told The Telegraph: “Jeetendra went to the ICICI Bank branch in the Rajendra Nagar area around 11am on his bike. He returned withdrawing money around 12.30pm. When he was parking his bike, three persons on a motorbike stopped behind him.”

Two of them demanded keys of Jeetendra’s bike at gunpoint. Finding Jeetendra in no mood to give in, one of them fired at him. “Our employer is fortunate that the bulled missed him. But he fell down. The bike’s keys in his hands also dropped on the ground,” Murari said.

“The two criminals grabbed the keys of Jeetendra’s bike, started it and fled towards the Agamkuan area. The third criminal also sped in the same direction on his motorbike,” Murari said.

“Two of us were inside the shop, behind a locked collapsible gate, when all these happened. By the time we came out of the shop, the criminals vanished,” Murari said.

“We rushed towards Jeetendra and helped him to be back on his feet. We saw blood oozing out of his right palm. We found the bullet had brushed past his right palm, causing a wound. The Patrakar Nagar police were immediately informed,” Murari added.

The Patranagar police personnel refused to comment on the incident. Patna city superintendent of police (SP) Kim told The Telegraph that investigations were on.