Bhairav Prasad, 60, who was undergoing treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) after he was attacked during a loot attempt at his shop, of Abhushan Alankar, at Morabadi under Bariatu police station on December 1, died around 2am on Friday.

Deputy superintendent of police (sadar), Deepak Kumar Pandey, said Prasad had passed away before his statement could be recorded.

“After the incident, he was admitted to RIMS where he was undergoing treatment for brain haemorrhage,” Pandey said.

“We were closely monitoring his health condition because we had to take his statement. He was responding well to medicines, but today (Friday) morning he succumbed to the head injury that he had sustained during the attack,” the police officer added.

Pandey said a person named Shamim had been detained in connection with the loot-attempt case.

“He has denied his involvement in the incident, saying he was one among those who had chased the snatcher. We are still questioning him,” Pandey added.

Around 6pm on December 1, a man had entered Abhushan Alankar when Prasad was alone and busy collecting the ornaments in a bag before closing the shop.

The intruder pulled down the shutter and snatched the bag of ornaments from Prasad. When the sexagenarian raised an alarm, the attacker hit him on the head with a hammer and stabbed him with a knife before running out of the shop.

A vegetable vendor at the nearby Kusum Vihar, who noticed the criminal running with the bag, chased the snatcher and managed to catch hold of him. But the man wriggled out of the vendor’s grip, threw away the jewellery bag and fled the spot.

Later, Prasad was rushed to RIMS and his family members and police were informed about the incident.

The cops began their investigation by exploring twin angles — an unsuccessful loot attempt and a property dispute leading to an attempt to murder.

According to police sources, Prasad had a dispute with a person named Shamim over the ownership of his shop. Shamim’s name had surfaced after Prasad’s elder son, Sudhir Soni, was shot dead in 2015.