Jamshedpur, Dec. 6: A 35-year-old man, who was a pronounced sympathiser of deceased businessman Upendra Singh and had led a violent protest after the November 30 murder, was shot dead in front of his house in Sonari thana area this evening.

Amit Rai, father of a three-year-old girl, was reportedly long on the hit list of gangster Akhilesh Singh - an arch-enemy of former politician Upendra - and had survived a similar bid on his life in Sakchi two months ago.

Police are looking for four unidentified men and have found a 9mm pistol on the spot, but suspect that the firearm belonged to the victim who also ran an extortion racket.

According to residents, the shooting took place around 7.15pm, when Amit was enjoying a puff in the veranda of his father's ground floor flat at Shiv Ganga apartments.

Amit's wife Punam and daughter are away in Lucknow at his in-laws' house and the young man was staying with his father Nagendra Kumar Rai, a retired Tata Steel employee, and mother Sheila.

"He (Amit) spotted an intruder at the gate of the five-storey building and came out to find himself surrounded by four armed men. He tried to escape into an adjoining alley, but was outrun and shot," a witness told police, adding that power supply to the area had snapped during the incident, making it thoroughly difficult to identify any of the perpetrators.

DSP (HQ-II) Kailash Karmali said a passing patrol vehicle rushed Amit, who had received a bullet in the head and two more in the spine, to Tata Main Hospital, but doctors at the emergency declared him brought dead.

"Though we do not have strong evidence, the murder appears to be the fallout of a gang war and may have been orchestrated by Akhilesh Singh (who is also wanted in the Upendra murder)," DSP Karmali told reporters.

Amit, who is an accused in a few extortion cases, had been the target of the Akhilesh gang even before he had led a violent protest at Tata Main Hospital after Upendra's murder, sources at Sonari thana said.

Police remand plea

The police team, probing the murder of Upendra Singh at Sitaramdera civil courts last month, has decided to seek remand of shooter Sonu Singh (24), alias Vicky, to find out how key accused in the case, gangster Akhilesh Singh, was routing conspiracy funds.

Vicky, currently lodged at Ghaghidih Central Jail, had told police during preliminary interrogation that Akhilesh had paid him and another shooter, Binod Singh (26) alias Mowgli, Rs 2 lakh to kill businessman Upendra.

"Though Vicky has confessed, we need to grill him further to find out how Akhilesh transferred the money. It could lead us to the accused. We will seek his police remand," said city SP Prashant Anand said.