Guwahati, June 9: An engineer of Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) sustained bullet injury under mysterious circumstances at Kahilipara here this morning.

Jatin Dhekial Phukan, 45, an assistant engineer of the ASEB, was riding his motorcycle from his Kahilipara residence to his Ulubari office at 10.45am when he was hit by a bullet in the back.

Police suspect the bullet was a stray one but have not been able to ascertain where it came from.

"I felt an acute pain in my back and immediately stopped the motorcycle. When I asked a passerby to see what had happened, he told me that I was bleeding profusely. I somehow rode the motorbike to reach the emergency ward of the GMCH," Phukan told reporters at the hospital.

Phukan, a resident of Nizarapar locality in Kahilipara, was riding on the newly constructed road connecting Kahilipara main road with Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) road.

Doctors at GMCH said his condition was stable and he would be operated upon tomorrow to remove the bullet. The police will send the bullet to the forensic science laboratory for ballistic test.

Deputy commissioner of police (East) Hemanta Kumar Das told The Telegraph that the bullet appears to be a stray one.

"It is too early to draw conclusions as our investigation has just begun but it seems unlikely that Phukan was shot at by someone from close range as no one saw a bullet being fired by anyone nor was any gunshot heard," he said.

There is speculation that the bullet could have come from the firing range of the 10th Assam police battalion, which is located barely a few metres from the incident site.

Commandant of the battalion, Gautam Bora, however, denied the possibility saying that there was no shooting practice going on when the incident took place.

A source at Dispur police station, quoting Phukan's family members, said he was involved in a land dispute with a neighbour and the matter was sub judice.

"According to Phukan's family, their neighbour had once threatened to finish him off. We are looking into this aspect also," the source added.

A case has been registered at Dispur police station under the Arms Act but nobody had been arrested or detained for questioning yet.