A Samajwadi Party leader was shot dead in Mau on Tuesday morning. Police said Amar Nath Yadav was coming out of the party office after attending a meeting when he was shot by motocycle-borne assailants. The miscreants managed to escape.

The deceased was president of the Samajwadi Yuwajan Sabha of Mau district.

Angry party workers blocked the road and refused to handover the body to the police. The body was kept at the blockade site.

Police had to resort to lathicharge when a fight broke out between the police, which was trying to take possession of the body, and the party workers. Mau SP Ashutosh Kumar was among several others injured. The injured were admitted to a hospital.

The SP office and the BJP office in the city are adjacent to each other and the Kotwali Police Station is located at 50 meters distance.

The Mau SP said that number of persons, who executed the crime, was still to be ascertained. “They had come on two motorcycles,” he said. He said according to the preliminary police investigation, the crime was planned in advance.

Kumar also said that Yadav too had criminal antecedents. “He was involved in several cases of crime,” he said. Police sources said the incident could be linked to a war of attrition between two gangs over business. The deceased was close to Independent MLA Mukhtar Ansari, a source said.

SP MP Chandra Deo Rajbhar, who represents Ghosi seat, was also present in the office when the incident took place. He, however, escaped unhurt.