A man was shot during the inspection of a shotgun at the office of Puthia upazila nirbahi officer yesterday.

Ashiq Iqbal was admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital with pellets in his legs, Puthia police said.

Officials who inspected the weapon said they were not aware that the gun was loaded.

However, Kazi Suza, the man who brought the shotgun to the UNO office, told The Daily Star that he tried to warn the officials that the gun was loaded.

He added that as soon as he told them about the loaded gun the trigger was pulled. “I could see Ashiq lying on the ground holding his feet. He was bleeding profusely," he said.

Executive Magistrate Iqbal Hasan, who led a team examining the gun, said the officials asked Suza if the gun was unloaded “but he could not answer properly".

The shotgun is owned by local lawmaker Kazi Abdul Wadud Dara, he said.

Ashiq, the injured man, went there to renew the licence of his father's gun, said Abdullah Al Mahmud, upazila nirbahi officer of Puthia.

He was waiting while the officials were examining the shotgun.

Rafiqul Islam, an employee of Rajshahi Deputy Commissioners' Office, pulled the trigger of the shotgun aiming at the floor, the UNO said.

A general diary was filed over the negligent discharge of a firearm, said Shakiluddin Ahmed, officer in charge of Puthia police station.

Iqbal Hasan, also a member of the examiners' team, said, "It was unintentional. People usually provide an unloaded gun during inspections but the lawmaker's one was loaded."