SIALKOT, Sept 30: Five 'hardened' criminals shot dead a jeweller at his house for not paying them Rs1 million they demanded as extortion at Glotiyaan Khurd village of Daska late Monday night.

Reports said a gang of proclaimed offenders, including Qamar Abbas alias Qamaru and Dildar Ahmad, had been demanding Rs1 million from Muhammad Irfan and hurling threats at him for ignoring their call.

Letting loose their ire, the gangsters finally stormed Irfan's house and shot him dead after holding up the entire family, including women and children. The Daska Saddar police have registered a case.

Irfan was laid to rest amid hundreds of people, including his colleagues.

Speaking to newsmen at the Daska city police station, Sialkot DPO Muhammad Ameen claimed that the police had arrested the three members of an extortionists' gang. Waqas, Umer and Zeeshan, he said, had been demanding money from industrialists and traders.