An armed group of robbers looted a jewellery shop early Sunday morning and attacked its owner, Pradip Bishwakarma, who succumbed to his injuries at Saptarishi Hospital in Lahan the same day.

The group of six looters barged into Bishwakarma’s jewellery shop and attacked him and his wife Amita Ruchal with a Khukuri before shooting Bishwakarma in the chest.

The incident occurred at around 1am on Sunday morning. Critically injured Bishwakarma was immediately rushed to the hospital.

“He succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 4:30am,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Tapan Kumar Dahal. According to him, Bishwakarma had wounds on his head, face, arms and chest. Amita was discharged after receiving treatment at Saptarishi Hospital, he added.

According to the District Police Office, the assailants also looted two tolas of gold, five kilograms of silver and Rs 200,000 from the shop.

Bishwakarma, a resident of Barchhawa in Lahan-22, had been operating his jewellery shop from a rented building at Gadhiya Chowk. He and his family lived in the same building. Police investigation shows that the assailants climbed the roof of the house using a ladder, broke the lock and entered the room.

According to Amita, upon entering the room, the looters indiscriminately assaulted Bishwakarma with a Khukuri until he collapsed.

“Then they shot him in the chest saying that he recognised them,” she said. Bishwakarma’s three children were also in the house when the tragic incident took place.

Following the incident, all the shops in Gadhiya remained closed on Sunday. Local residents said the security personnel took half an hour to reach the incident site even though they were informed as soon as the crime took place.

“The policemen arrived here only after the injured were taken to the hospital in an ambulance,” said Tej Narayan Thakur, a local resident. The local people demanded that the criminals be brought to book at the earliest and security be tightened in the area.

Police have arrested two suspects in connection with the incident.

“The suspects were held with an iron bar. Detailed investigation into the incident is underway,” said Dahal.

A similar incident was reported in Lahan-2 on Monday last week. A group of seven/eight assailants looted a house belonging to Bindeshwar Sah and took away cash and valuables worth Rs 600,000. The looters assaulted Sah and his wife with an iron rod.

“Both the incidents are similar in nature. We are investigating the cases accordingly,” said Dahal.