Mohammad Mokhles, 35, suffered a minor injury, as the bullet slipped severing part of his abdomen. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and released after first aid.

Mokhles said three extortionists ordered him to stop at around 7:00am when he was carrying two passengers from Sadarghat to Magbazar.

"I wanted to help my passengers get out of trouble and kept going, but one of them fired on me," Mokhles told newsmen at the DMCH.

Ramna police dismissed the incident, saying the person might have suffered bullet injury elsewhere during criminal activities and invented the story to escape arrest.