Chennai: In a shocking incident, a 26-year-old medical student pursuing a postgraduate degree at Madras Medical College (MMC) escaped unhurt after two men opened fire at him with a country-made pistol outside the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai on Sunday.

A postgraduate medical student here had a narrow escape after a person from Uttar Pradesh shot at him using a country-made pistol on Sunday, a police official said.

Luckily, the fired shot missed the target, which was the doctor, the official said adding the perpetrator was immediately arrested with the help of the public, reports news agency PTI.

The incident occurred while 26-year-old PG medical student Rohan was near a tea shop near the Madras Medical College-Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital campus. Two men, one of whom was later identified as Ritik Kumar from Uttar Pradesh, closely trailed Rohan. Suddenly, one of them fired a shot, narrowly missing Rohan, who was the intended target. The other individual believed to be the conspirator, managed to flee the scene.

According to a preliminary probe, Amit Kumar was enraged as his girlfriend, also a PG medical student, stopped talking with him. Kumar suspected that it was because of her friendship with Rohan and hence, he conspired to kill him.

According to a media report in The New Indian Express, Amit and Rithik came to Chennai two weeks ago. They had acquired the pistol for Rs 5,000 and had allegedly been following Rohan for three days. “Rohan was always with friends so they couldn’t proceed with their plans till Saturday night when he was alone at a tea stall,” a police official said.

“Rithik is not cooperating with the investigation and is answering in an evasive manner,” said a police source. Rithik has been sent for judicial remand. A search is on to nab Amit and further investigation is on.