Bengaluru businessman shot at, injured

A 54-year-old city-based businessman was injured when three men shot at him at his office in Raheja Arcade in Koramangala on Saturday. The three men from Hasanpur in Bihar barged into his office and fired three rounds and escaped on Saturday afternoon.

The injured, Kanhaiyalal Agarwal, is the director of Farm India Impex Pvt Ltd which purchases maize seeds from farmers in many parts of the country and sells them to poultry farms. Agarwal has been admitted to St John’s Hospital and doctors say he is out of danger.

Chirag Agarwal, Kanhaiyalal’s elder son and an eye-witness, said their company started purchasing maize seeds from Hasanpur one-and-a-half years ago. Two months ago, two agriculture agents Vibhuti Kumar Singh and Sanchi Kumar Singh from Hasanpur had warned his father against trading in their city.

The assailants had been making calls to threaten Kanhaiyalal since Saturday morning but he did not answer them. The trio, who knew Kanhaiyalal’s movements, came to his office around 2 pm. When the security guard stopped them, they told him they had come in search of a job.

“I intervened and told them to leave, saying there were no vacancies. When they refused to leave the premises I called the security guard. One of them then shot at my father, who was sitting around 15 feet away from the entrance.”

“The bullets pierced the glass panes of my father’s cabin. The first bullet scraped the back of his head,’’ Chirag told DH.

Meanwhile, Chirag’s younger brother Rishi, who was in the cabin, shielded his father. The two then ducked under the table. Just then, another assailant started shooting at the cabin.

The police said the suspects fired three bullets, which hit the table. One of them ricocheted and scraped Kanhaiyalal’s head, the police said.

Besides Kanhaiyalal and his sons, there were five employees in the office at the time of the incident. According to eyewitnesses, the assailants wore masks and helmets.

“We suspect that Vibhuti Kumar Singh and Sanchi Kumar Singh sent supari killers to attack my father,” Chirag said.

Additional commissioner of police (East) Seemant Kumar Singh, who inspected the spot, told DH that CCTV footage and initial enquiries revealed that the suspects had used the stairs to flee.