A 24-year-old law student was allegedly shot dead by a motorcycle-borne attacker when he was out for a stroll at night in north Delhi’s Hardev Nagar near Burari on Thursday.

The victim, Ashish Bhardwaj, was with two friends when the biker stopped them and asked them what they were doing in the area late in the night.

An argument ensued and a scuffle broke out between them, during which the biker allegedly took out his gun and shot Bhardwaj on his neck. He died on the spot and the biker fled, said police.

Bhardwaj, who hailed from West Champaran district in Bihar, was a final-year student at a private university in Gurgaon. He lived with his brother Rajnish Bhardwaj in a rented flat in Hardev Nagar.

Rajnish is a postgraduate student from Delhi University. Their father, Ved Prakash, is an advocate in Bettiah, Bihar.

Jatin Narwal, deputy commissioner of police (north), said the crime was reported to the police control room at 11.45pm on Thursday.

During the investigation, Narwal said, it was learnt that Bhardwaj was out for a stroll with his friends Himanshu and Anoop. A man carrying a double-barrel gun on his shoulder interrupted them on a Splendour motorcycle, he said. The biker asked the three what they were doing outside in the neighbourhood late at night.

When the three asked him to mind his business, the biker started abusing them. This started an altercation in which the biker threatened to shoot them, added Narwal.

“A scuffle broke out between them during which the three dragged him down from the motorcycle. When they tried to snatch the gun, the biker fired a bullet that hit Bhardwaj’s neck and he collapsed,” said Narwal, adding that after the shooting, the biker fled on his motorcycle.

Bhardwaj’s friends rushed him to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared him dead. His brother and other family members were informed about his death, police said.