A 52-year-old man was shot dead in Baranagar on Monday evening.

Police said Kartik Prasad was a moneylender and preliminary investigations suggest he might have been killed for turning down demands for money.

"A man claimed an auto crossed Prasad's path as he was walking along Maharaja Nanda Kumar Road around 6.30pm," an officer of Baranagar police station said.

"Around the same time some men on a motorcycle shot him before fleeing towards the Aalambazar crossing that leads to Dakshineswar."

Prasad was declared dead at Baranagar State General Hospital.

Prasad had rented a room in Ward 32 five days ago. "We are clueless about the murder. We are running a background check," said local councillor Nepal Das.

"We got to know that Prasad was a moneylender. Investigations are on to find out if the murder was the result of a business rivalry," an officer of Barrackpore commissionerate said.