A prominent trader was shot dead around midnight in Gorakhpur, the parliamentary constituency of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, police said on Friday.

Traders have threatened protests if the killers were not nabbed immediately.

All city shops will remain closed, convener of the Joint Traders Association Sitaram Jaiswal said.

Bike borne assailants of oil trader Chandra Prakash Tibdewal, also decamped with Rs 20 lakh cash that the victim was carrying.

Tibdewal, 45, owned an oil trading company at Sahebganj. He was on his way home after closing his shop when he was intercepted by the assailants.

The staff accompanying him had a bag with the cash -- the sale proceeds of the day. Before the trader could do anything, the killers shot him and fled with the bag.

He was rushed to a nearby medical facility where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Police are interrogating the employees of Tibdewal. Vigil has been stepped up in the city.

Other traders associations have also expressed apprehensions over the spate of crimes under the watch of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, which stormed to power in March, making poor law and order under the Samajwadi Party (SP) government its main poll plank.