A group of armed robbers entered a jewellery store in Barrackpore, in North 24-Parganas, on Wednesday evening and opened fire, killing the owner’s son and leaving the owner and an employee injured, after facing resistance.
The store, Singha Jewellers, is in Barrackpore’s Anandapuri, a congested neighbourhood near the No. 14 railway gate, around 24km from the heart of Kolkata.
Police said the owner of the store, Nilratan Singha, his son Niladri and two employees were inside when the armed gang struck.
Officers of the Barrackpore commissionerate said the gang asked the men in the store to hand over ornaments. When the Singhas and the employees refused, they fired at least three bullets. One bullet hit Niladri, another hit his father and the third hit one of the employees.
All three were taken to a private hospital, where Niladri was declared dead. His father and the injured employee were admitted, the police said.
The armed men fled the spot soon after the shooting.
Senior officers inspected the shop.
CCTV cameras in the locality were scanned to establish the identity of the robbers.
“The identity of the persons who came for the heist is yet to be established. Three to four men came. Till now, their sole purpose seems to be robbery,” said a senior officer in the commissionerate.
A forensic team will visit the jewellery store on Thursday.
An officer said they were trying to talk to members of the owner’s family to find out whether any dispute involving the Singhas was responsible for the shooting.
No one was arrested till late on Wednesday.