Thursday, October 6 2005 16:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Sasaram (Bihar): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister Ravishanker Prasad was shot at and wounded in the arm at an election meeting with angry spectators overpowering and lynching the lone assailant, official sources said.

Official sources said that the real target was BJP MLA in the dissolved house from Nokha Rameshwar Prasad Chaurasia, one of the petitioners who challenged the dissolution of the Bihar assembly in the Supreme Court.

Chaurasia escaped unhurt in the attack.

The sources said the attack took place when Prasad, was addressing the meeting where BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan was present at Nokha, about 25 km from here.

The bullet hit Prasad, a former Union Information and Broadcasting Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, in the arm and he slumped on the dais, eyewitnesses said.

An angry crowd immediately pounced on the gunman and beat him to death, the sources said. His identity was yet to be ascertained.

BJP sources said Prasad was rushed by a helicopter to Patna.

However, later reports said Prasad was taken to a local hospital and after a minor operation the bullet was removed.

Chaurasia said Prasad was out of danger after the surgery performed in Sasaram by senior surgeon Dr Chitranjan.