The Patna police today nabbed four men, all professional shooters, involved in the murder of businessman Anil Agarwal which had taken place on April 11.

Two others - Rakesh and Mukesh - who were the masterminds of the incident are still on the run. Police said the motive for killing was not clear yet but the men had planned to make it look like a loot incident.

Agarwal was murdered when he was opening his medicine shop on Govind Mitra Road.

"There were five people in the murder scene," said Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj. "They had reached Govind Mitra Road at around 7am and looked around the place to ascertain their escape routes after the murder. Two of them, Rakesh and Akash, waited at the two exit points on bikes while the other three, Mukesh, Jitendra and Rupesh, went inside the shop to kill the man. The men are from Danapur and Hajipur. We took help of the CCTV footage to identify and arrest them."

Rupesh Kumar, Jitendra Kumar, Aakash Kumar and Chandan Kumar were caught today.

The SSP said interrogations revealed that it was Mukesh and Rakesh who had plotted to kill Agarwal and had contacted the others for help.

"Mukesh and Rakesh got the other men together and explained to them the plot," said the officer. "The men were asked to go into his shop, loot cash and kill him. The police suspect that loot was not the motive of the murder though. Rakesh and Mukesh had promised to pay the assailants well. It seems strange that someone will hire goons to loot a medicine shop."

Police could reach this conclusion because no cash was taken away from the shop.

"The police had quizzed a lady who was spotted in the footage at that time," the SSP said. "She said she had seen Agarwal indulging in a fistfight with the trio. Agarwal was a strong man and he fought even getting shot once. He had overpowered one of them and had got out of the shop."

Jitendra saidthey did look for money when they went inside the shop.

"We got frustrated when Agarwal resisted and we couldn't find any money," he said. "Then he started fighting us. Mukesh and Rupesh fired at him and then fled from the scene. We fled to Danapur."

The police said one of the arrested, Akash, had links with Ritlal Yadav, an MLC who is presently lodged in the Beur Central Jail.