Goldsmith shot at in City

Mukhtar Hussain was asleep on the first-floor tenement of a three-storey building at Kumbarpet Main Road Cross when the assailants, dressed in black clothes and wearing black caps, stormed into the room  around 9 pm, eyewitnesses said. 

They woke him up, pulled him by the collar and kicked him in the abdomen. Then, one of them fired two rounds from a country-made 0.32 bore revolver.

While one bullet missed the target, the other ripped into the right side of Hussain’s abdomen. Luckily, none of his vital organs was damaged, police said. In a flash, the assailants who had reached the spot on foot fled as Hussain, who was bleeding, began screaming.

Shafiq and two other boys in the room—Shaikh Kamaluddin and Haseebul— first tried to regain their senses. Then, one of them rushed to call Hussain’s wife Nasira, his brother-in-law Irfan Ali, and the latter’s wife Muslima Bibi, who all lived nearby.

The landlord, Javed, too, arrived and rushed Hussain to Victoria Hospital. Police were also called. Kamaluddin and Haseebul were asleep whereas Shafiq was in an adjacent room when the shootout occurred.

Hussain, who is now stable, in his statement, appeared clueless about the motive behind the assault, a senior police officer said.

It is not clear if gold ornaments were kept in the tenement but the police have ruled out attempt for robbery. They say personal enmity or love angle could not be ruled out.

The victim had come to the City a few years ago and set up a small gold works unit. He had employed Shafiq who arrived in the City last year. Ulsoorgate police have booked a case.