Gurugram, Jun 7 (IANS): A 40-year-old arms dealer was shot dead by armed assailants in Gurugram's New Colony area at around 3 pm on Tuesday, the police said.

The reason behind the killing is yet to be ascertained but sources said it could be a monetary dispute between the accused and the victim.

The deceased has been identified as Manish Bhardwaj alias Kala, a resident of Gurugram.

According to the police, Bhardwaj, Sunny Kant and Pramod alias Bablu were travelling in a Bolero vehicle.

"The trio drove around in the car for almost two hours. When Bhardwaj was about to get down from the car to pick up his Scooty in the New Colony area, Sunny allegedly shot him three times and fled in another vehicle which was coming behind the Bolero," the police said.

Bhardwaj was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead.

Bhardwaj was earlier booked by the Gurugram police in a fake arms licence scam which was busted in 2017. During the investigation, the police had recovered seven illegal weapons and 5,000 illegal cartridges from his possession.