Four men walked into a tailor's outlet in the Topsia area on Thursday evening and one of them shot a 40-year-old man during an argument before walking away through congested lanes.

Mohammad Murshed was taken to National Medical College and Hospital where he died of injuries.

Three men were arrested late on Thursday in connection with the murder. One of them, Eshan Faruque, had shot Murshed, police said.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that a dispute over money was the trigger.

Thursday's murder in a congested area took place nine days after police commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha had expressed concern about hoodlums possessing illegal firearms and ammunition.

At a meeting with senior IPS officers on August 11, Purkayastha wanted to know why illegal firearms were not being seized.

The meeting was called in the wake of a shooting in front of a Haridevpur bar in which one person was killed.

On the day of the CMC polls on April 18, a police officer in Girish Park was shot at, allegedly by a local tough who was part of a gang that enjoyed the patronage of a leader of the ruling party.

The police said Thursday's incident took place around 8.15pm in the congested Topsia First Lane in the Tiljala police station area.

A group of four - Eshan Faruque, Amir Khan, Washim Akram and Mohammad Sajid -entered a four-storeyed building that houses the tailor's outlet on the first floor.

Mohammad Arman Chowdhury, the head of the outlet, said he heard Murshed arguing with one of them over some money.

"Suddenly one of them whipped out a firearm and started threatening Murshed," he said in his complaint. "During the course of argument, the man pulled the trigger and Murshed, who had joined the outlet a month ago, slumped to the ground."

The four left the outlet immediately after the firing.

People of the area, which is dotted with residential buildings, markets and roadside eateries and shops, had no inkling about the shooting.

Police said they came to know about Faruque after talking to the complainant who had seen the victim identifying the shooter by his name.

"We came to know that Faruque and three others from Marques Street in the Park Street area had visited the outlet," an officer of Tiljala police station said. "Raids were conducted on Thursday night and we arrested Faruque, Akram and Sajid from a hideout in the Park Street area. Amir is absconding."

The officer said Faruque had borrowed Rs 1 lakh from Murshed. "He wanted his money back but Faruque wasn't ready to pay."

Another officer claimed Faruque had said during interrogation that he wanted to scare Murshed and the trigger had been accidentally pressed.

"But we are not accepting it. We have reasons to believe that Faruque had raided the outlet with an intention to murder Murshed," the officer said.