Ranchi: A retired clerk of Ranchi University was shot dead in front of his home at Power House Chowk in Chutia on Thursday afternoon apparently over land dispute.

Sixty-two-year-old Arun Nag's assailants, two men on a scooter, reportedly asked around about their target before they pulled the trigger when the victim himself stepped forward.

"The men first asked people 'Arun Nag kaun hai' near a golgappa stall. As they asked others near Nag's residence, he stepped forward and said, ' Hum hain Arun Nag, kahiye...', and that was when one of the men fired a round and killed Nag on the spot," said a local resident.

He said the incident took place around 3.30pm and there were at least three more eyewitnesses. "Two women were standing at the golgappa stall and there was the vendor himself. They screamed, 'Arun bhaiya ko maar diya, maar diya' before fleeing the spot."

Lalpur thana OC Ramod Kumar Singh, who inspected the crime scene along with cops from Chutia police station, said they suspected dispute over land.

"The house of the victim is spread over an acre. His wife and two sons live in another building 100 metres away. Someone sold the land allegedly using false documents and the person who purchased the land was mounting pressure (on Nag) to vacate," the officer said.

A resident who knew Nag backed the theory. "Some broker had managed to con his aunt into signing some land papers. He also had land in Krishnapuri," the resident said.

In the past fortnight, this was the fifth murder in the capital city. On March 2, one Shiv Lohra was shot dead in Bariatu followed by Salam Khan in Kantatoli four days later. RJD leader Kailash Prasad was gunned down in Nagri on March 10 and BJP leader Pankaj Gupta was also shot dead in Nagri a day later.