As many as six unidentified criminals raided a brick kiln in Gurhet Rewar village of sadar block in Hazaribagh and shot the owner Lakshman Gupta on Saturday night.
The criminals, who were associated with one Jan Shakti criminal group escaped in the nearby forest, abducting five labourers. With police mounting pressure, labourers were released later. DSP Mangal Singh Jamuda informed that the police is trying to identify and arrest all the criminals.
Sources said that the criminals threatened labourers and asked about the owner Gupta. They took five labourers to the house of Gupta situated nearby and forced him to open the door. As Gupta came out, one of the criminals fired at him. A bullet hit Gupta's neck and the criminals fled from the spot taking all five labourers to forest. On information, police team led by DSP Jamuda started a massive raid in the area which forced criminals to release the labourers.
Injured Gupta was rushed to sadar hospital from where he was referred to Ranchi. The incident has triggered fear in the area.