Two bike-borne criminals shot an automobile company's customer service centre employee and fled with over Rs 6 lakh at Hajipur in Vaishali district, around 20km north of Patna, on Tuesday morning. The man later died.

Ajit Kumar Singh (40) was waiting for a Muzaffarpur-bound bus near Dighi on national highway 77 (NH-77) around 10.30am when the two men tried to snatch his bag in full public view. Ajit tried to resist, but one of them men shot him and they fled with the money towards Muzaffarpur. No resident dared intervene.

"The criminals, aged around 20 to 25 years, were armed and threatened to kill anybody who intervened," a shopkeeper who was at the scene of crime told the police. Ajit was rushed to Hajipur sadar hospital, which referred him to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). But he died on the way.

A resident of Balwa Koari village in Vaishali district, Ajit was employed with Ideal Service, which works for Tata Motors, at a monthly remuneration of Rs 4,000. Hajipur additional superintendent of police (ASP) Rasheed Zaman said, prima facie, it appeared the criminals only wanted to rob the money. "They killed him (Ajit) when he offered resistance," he said. Efforts were on to identify the criminals.

The ASP said the customer service used to earlier deposit money in a nationalised bank at Hajipur. But in the past two months it was sending the money by bus to its head office in Muzaffarpur, around 70km north of Hajipur.

The company had not approached the police for any escort. "It seems the criminals were keeping a watch on the employee for some time and carried out the operation today," Zaman said. Raids were on at suspected hideouts but there have been no arrests so far. The incident sparked off protest by some residents, who blocked the Hajipur-Muzaffarpur road for about half-an hour. The blockade was lifted on the intervention of senior police officials who promised to bring the culprits to book at the earliest.

In August, Nawal Kishore Singh, a businessman, was shot at and seriously injured at his shop on Cinema Road in the heart of the district headquarters town for refusing to pay Rs 50 lakh as extortion to a local criminal gang. The murderous attack took place despite a complaint lodged with the Town police station against extortionists.

In the same month, Vishwajeet Singh, a petrol pump employee, was robbed of cash at Bag Dulhan near Hajipur. In July, Sunita Devi, a woman sarpanch, was brutally assaulted and robbed of Rs 50,000 cash and ornaments at Hilalpur village under the jurisdiction of Industrial Area police station. "We are at the mercy of criminals who strike at will, anytime and anywhere," said C.B. Mishra, a wholesale dealer of lubricants at Hajipur.