Lucknow, September 18:

Two men were lynched by a mob in a village in Uttar Pradesh after they shot and wounded a shopkeeper, the police said today.

The incident was reported from Parsara village in Varanasi district last evening.

The two bought a mobile phone recharge coupon from the shop of Dinesh Singh. When he demanded money, they shot him, Inspector Aryan Pandey of Phoolpur police station said.

The two, one of them identified as Shailesh Yadav, tried to escape on a motorcycle but were intercepted by villagers. They fired a couple of shots at the villagers but fell down after being hit by stones. The villagers then attacked them with bricks and rods, killing them on the spot, Pandey added.Two pistols, some money and a map of Jaunpur district was recovered from them.

The villagers set the motorcycle on fire and tried to torch the bodies but timely intervention of the police prevented this.