Assailants entered a restaurant on Friday afternoon and shot dead its owner near the office of the Munger superintendent of police, throwing up a new challenge for the men-in-uniform.

Restaurateur Uttam Sharma (35) was also the vice-president of the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha.

The assailants entered the eatery around 12.45pm. Around 1pm, Upendra Ram, a cook at the restaurant, heard a gunshot and rushed to the counter of the hotel to find his employer Uttam lying in a pool of blood.

Uttam's bodyguard Sunni Gupta was at the restaurant at the time of crime but failed to protect his employer. 'I was serving food to a customer when I heard a shot. I rushed to the owner's counter and found him lying in a pool of blood. Superintendent of police (SP) Varun Kumar Sinha arrived within minutes of the crime with a large posse of armed police personnel, but by then the assailants had fled,' Upendra said.

The SP said the murder appears to have been planned by jailed arms-smuggler Pawan Mandal, arrested in connection with BJP leader Pankaj Verma's murder. Uttam was a prosecution witness in the case.

Two persons have been detained in connection with the murder and were being interrogated. The SP, Sinha, said four persons had come to carry out the crime.

Two of them entered the restaurant to carry out the murder while two others kept a watch outside the restaurant premises.

The police said Uttam's bodyguard gave chase to the assailants but they ran away throwing the gun used in committing the crime. The police have seized the weapon used to commit the murder.

Uttam's uncle Naresh Sharma said: 'We have lost faith in the police. The bodyguard could do nothing to save my nephew's life.'

Munger has witnessed a spate of murders in the recent past. On January 2 this year armed men shot dead a BJP worker and LIC agent, Satish Kumar Sharma, in Maksuspur locality.

Later, on February 2, armed men shot dead BJP leader Pankaj Verma near the Goddess Maa Kali temple, also in Maksuspur locality.