Arbind Kumar Sah, who was shot dead in Srinagar’s Eidgah, used to park his golgappa cart near a park in the area everyday without fail, hoping to lift his family back home in Bihar out of poverty, a resident of the area told news agency PTI on Saturday.

“He was a hardworking man. He had dreams of getting his family out of poverty back in Bihar. But that dream has died today,” a middle-aged resident said.

Sah, a native of Bihar’s Banka, met his tragic end after a pistol-bearing militant stopped near his cart and shot him at point-blank range, killing him on the spot.

He left for Jammu and Kashmir three months ago looking for work, his father told news agency ANI. Prior to his death he often remembered his family back home and had even made a few friends among the visitors who would come to the park.

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“His business was brisk. He was a likeable man, maybe that’s why he had good business. He would often talk about his folks and poverty in his hometown,” the resident further said.

The 29-year-old was found lying in a pool of blood and taken to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital where doctors declared him dead. He was identified by his Aadhar card.

In another part of Kashmir, militants gunned down a carpenter Sagir Ahmad in Pulwama. Ahmad hailed from Uttar Pradesh and even though he was rushed to a hospital he later succumbed to his injuries.

Sah is the second migrant vendor from Bihar to be killed in Kashmir this month and the seventh civilian to be killed by militants in the last two weeks. Street vendor Virender Paswan from Bihar’s Bhagalpur, was also gunned down by militants at Lal Bazar area on October 5. His last rites were performed in Srinagar.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has announced an ex gratia of ₹2 lakh for Sah’s next of kin, news agency ANI reported.