A young man was shot dead in broad daylight on Wednesday morning by unknown assailants on the road at Swarupnagar under Basirhat sub-division in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

The deceased, identified as Isarul Gazi (32), a resident of Swarupnagar, was passing through the locality on his motorcycle. Suddenly he was chased by a group of unknown youths on motorcycles and shot. As Isarul Gazi tried to escape from the scene by speeding up his motorcycle, even after the bullet wound, the assailants fired some more rounds of bullets at him, following which he fell from his motorcycle on the road bleeding profusely, according to news reports.

The assailants then took off the jacket that Gazi was wearing and escaped from the scene. This event has left the investigating officials wondering why such a daring murder took place in broad daylight just for a jacket. They suspect that probably something of value was inside the jacket, for which Gazi was targeted by the criminals. The local people immediately rushed Gazi to a rural hospital where he was declared dead.

The body of the victim had been sent for post-mortem.Police have started an investigation in the matter and nearby local police stations have also been alerted. The CCTV footage gathered from the area is being examined for investigation. It is unclear whether the victim had any political connections. West Bengal has been in the headlines for the last few months because of similar instances of murders following shootouts in broad daylight and on open roads.

In January this year, Dulal Sarkar a.k.a. Babla, a Trinamool Congress councilor from English Bazar Municipality in Malda district was shot dead in a similar manner in broad daylight on the open road. In the same month, another Trinamool Congress leader Hasan Sheikh was shot dead in a similar manner in Kaliachak, also in Malda district, the reports say.