An angry mob apprehended a person fleeing after allegedly shooting and injuring a shopkeeper in Bihar's Gopalganj district on Monday and thrashed him to death.

The incident occurred at Jagdishpur village under Thawe police station in the district. Four people arrived on two motorcycles and fired indiscriminately at a seed and fertiliser store.

One of the bullets hit its owner Pawan Kumar Singh in his back and he fell. A melee prevailed there for some time, but the sound of firing and commotion attracted the local people in large numbers.

The culprits tried to flee from the spot, but the mob gave chase and managed to catch one of them. They tied his hands and legs with a rope and assaulted him so severely that he died on the spot.

Meanwhile, someone informed the police, who arrived on the spot and sent the body of the deceased for post-mortem. He was identified as one Abhishek Thakur of Ramchandrapur village under the Thawe police station area.

“Abhishek was previously arrested under the Arms Act and had come out of jail recently. He had criminal antecedents. We are investigating the matter and trying to pinpoint the reasons behind the firing,” Gopalganj SP Avdhesh Dixit said.

Sources in the police said that there was an ongoing dispute between the deceased and the shopkeeper and all angles were being probed to find out whether the firing and lynching were sudden or premeditated.

The injured shopkeeper was taken to a local government hospital where the doctors referred him to the Patna Medical College and Hospital for better treatment.

Gopalganj has suddenly become a hotbed of crime with several incidents of firing and murders in the past couple of weeks. Criminals also opened fire at a gangster in the district court premises on Friday. The police had brought him before the court in a case.