The incident, according to the police, occurred at 2.10 pm in a Kathiawadi lodge, while Shah was having lunch with two colleagues. The culprits, eyewitnesses said, drove upto the bungalow in a jeep, came up to the engineer, and hit him repeatedly on the head with iron rods. ``The operation lasted between two and three minutes'', they said.

Narmada District SUperintendent of Police Raju Bhargav said the culprits escaped in the vehicle they came in. No one -- including Shah's driver, who was waiting outside the bungalow -- gave chase; nor did anyone note the jeep's registration number.

The deceased engineer lived alone in the bungalow, while his family lived in Vadodara.

Bhargav said Shah was rushed to the Rajpipla Civil Hospital, where he died within moments of being admitted. The police, however, were informed about the incident after an hour. ``Shah's driver passed me while I was going home to lunch. But instead of informing me about the incident, he went on to the GEB office. There was a fair chance of the culprits being caught if we had been told immediately'', the DSP said.

However, Bhargav said, the police were working on the theory that five GEB employees suspended last week were behind the murder. ``We are looking for them. They were transferred out of Rajpipla, pending inquiry'', he added.

Four meter-readers and an employee of the GEB accounts department were suspended on corruption charges last week. Though the FIR does not name them -- Shah could not identify his assailants in his dying declaration -- the engineer's son reportedly told the police that Shah had informed him of being shouted at by the suspended employees in the morning.

Some GEB employees, too, told the police that the engineer had been receiving threatening calls over the past few days.

A case of murder has been registered under Section 302 of the IPC against the five in the Rajpipla city police station. A massive manhunt has been launched to trace the culprits, Bhargav said.

GEB Director (Security) D K Dhagal said the board was awaiting a copy of the FIR. The board had sought immediate arrest of the accused, he added.