Agra jeweller shot at

 Prominent Agra jeweller Anand Agarwal was shot at and critically wounded by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle, prompting jewellers across the city to strike work on Monday, police said.

Agarwal, president of the Sarafa Committee, the jewellers’ association, was attacked late Sunday near Anjna Cinema on MG Road. He was on his scooter, driving home to his Awagarh Colony house from his shop in Chaubeyji ka Phatak, the main centre of jewellers and bullion traders in the city, when the bullets were fired. Passers-by informed the police, and he was rushed first to a nearby nursing home and later to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon where he is battling for life.

Hari Parbat police said witnesses had informed them that three person on a black Pulsar mobike had fired at least two shots. As news spread, a large number of jewellers and trade associations’ office bearers reached the nursing home, shouting slogans against the police.

“Agra businessmen are no longer safe. Even on the busy M G Road, people are shot,” said an angry trader.

Agra has witnessed a large number of crimes in the recent past.