Lucknow, June 13 (IANS): Three persons were gunned down in Sultanpur early on Saturday, police said.

Following the incident, hundreds of villagers went on the rampage, pelting stones at police personnel and setting a bike on fire. Heavy police reinforcements sent to the crime scene had a tough time in controlling the mob.

Inspector General of Police (Lucknow) Zaki Ahmad said that the deceased have been identified as Shiv Kumar, Dev Narayan and Prashant Singh of Kadipur area.

They were sitting by a tubewell and having drinks when unidentified assailants peppered them with bullets.

The villagers who rushed to the spot after hearing the shots, found the three lying in a pool of blood.

The locals went berserk after this and resorted to violence. While nobody has been arrested so far, the police have lodged a case against unidentified persons.

In a preliminary probe, it has been found that one of the deceased Prashant Singh had many criminal cases against him.