A civic volunteer died in bombing and three more persons suffered bullet injuries when a gang of robbers looted a jewellery shop in Malda late on Tuesday evening and escaped on bikes.

Sources said the six-member gang, including a woman, entered the shop of Gautam Sen in Malatipur under Chanchal police station, posing as customers.

They expressed interest in buying gold ornaments. When the staff showed them the ornaments, they held Sen and his employees at gunpoint.

As Sen and some others tried to resist them, the criminals opened fire. Sen, one of his employees and another customer in the shop suffered bullet injuries.

The gang, which reached the shop in motorcycles, fled the spot while tossing crude bombs to prevent their being caught in a chase.

The news spread and the police were informed.

Mominul Haque, a 35-year-old civic volunteer on duty at a road in Kashempur, an area located around 8km away from the looted shop, also got the news of the robbery.

Soon, he spotted the suspected robbers on the bikes. Haque, although unarmed, tried to stop them. This prompted the robbers to lob bombs at him. Residents rushed the civic volunteer to the super-specialty hospital in Chanchal where doctors pronounced him dead.

The shop owner and two others have been hospitalised.

Senior police officers spoke with employees and residents for information. Searches are on to nab the gang, which the police suspect is from Bihar.

Police officers on Wednesday said they detained three persons and impounded two bikes suspected to be used in the crime.

“The ICs and OCs of four police stations, Chanchal, Ratua, Pukhuria and Harishchandrapur, have been asked to jointly probe the incident. We are also minutely scanning the CCTV footage retrieved from the spot of the robbery,” said a police officer.