A 50-year-old driver of a motorised rickshaw van was shot dead by unknown goons after he attempted to stop them from snatching ornaments of his wife in Hooghly’s Singur on Friday evening.

Manoj Mondal was driving his van with his wife, 14-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter.

Family members said Manoj and his family were returning home from the residence of his in-laws at Haripal when two motorcycle-borne goons waylaid them on a link road running parallel to Durgapur Expressway.

The goons stopped the van and held Manoj’s wife at gunpoint for her ornaments.

“They asked for my mother’s ornaments and all other belongings. When my father protested, they pulled out a gun and shot at my father. Then left after taking away everything from us,” said Puskar Mondal.

“This is a dangerous trend, something that had never happened in the past. The incident has left us in fear. There were very few people on the road due to rain,” said Nantu Chakraborty, a local resident in Singherbheri village.

Police have started a probe and have launched a hunt to arrest the criminals.

“The goons shot at the person all of a sudden. We have already started searching for the culprits. However, no one has been arrested so far,” said Amandeep, the police chief of Hooghly rural police district.