A youth, who was agitated with a minor girl for rejecting his proposal, fired at some local youths at a village in South Dinajpur on Thursday evening when they confronted him for misbehaving with the girl.

One of the youths has been hit by a bullet in the abdomen and is under treatment. The accused has been arrested and a firearm with one round of live cartridge has been seized from him.

Sources said Manik Haldar, a resident of Kushmandi in South Dinajpur, had proposed to a minor girl who lives in Sherpur village under Bansihari police station of the district.

“He had been disturbing her for quite some time. She had refused to accept his proposal but he was insistent,” said a member of the girl’s family.

On Thursday, while the girl was returning home from tuition, Manik intercepted her and took her near a mosque. They got into a quarrel which caught the attention of some local youths.

As the youths asked Manik to leave, he hurled abuses at them, prompting the group to give him a chase.

Manik, while escaping from the spot, took out an improvised firearm and fired in open. The bullet hit Raja Das — a 20-year-old youth who was part of the group — in his abdomen and he collapsed on the spot. He is now under treatment at Malda Medical College & Hospital.

“We suspect that he had plans to shoot the girl. Otherwise, there is no reason as to why he should carry a firearm. As the local youths intervened, it seems he panicked and fired at them,” said a villager.

A few days back, a college student of Malda was hacked to death by a youth who had proposed to her, on a street in Berhampore town.

As the news spread, a team from Banshihari police station rushed to the spot. They started searching for Manik and soon arrested him.

“We are trying to find out from where he got the firearm. He has been forwarded to the court today and we have appealed for police custody. He needs to be interrogated to gather more information,” said Monojit Sarkar, the inspector-in-charge of Banshihari police station.