Shootout at Koramangala!

Bengaluru: Panic gripped the busy Raheja Arcade in Koramangala on Saturday morning as three men wearing helmets and armed with a pistol entered the offices of an export company on the second floor of the commercial complex and shot four rounds at a businessman in broad daylight.

Fortunately, Mr Kanhaiyalal Agarwal (54), CEO of Kanhaiyalal & Co. which deals with maize seeds, dodged the bullets, that merely grazed his head and is being treated at a private hospital for his injury.

He was sitting in his cabin at his office at Farm India Impex Pvt. Ltd  at around 2 pm, when the three men wearing helmets entered his office. Seeing them heading for Mr Kanhaiyalal's cabin, a staffer stopped them to ask what they wanted and was told they wanted to meet the CEO regarding a job. The men then made straight for Mr Kanhaiyalal's cabin and opened fire at him from outside,  the police said.     n Turn to P4

The CEO's son, Chirag Agarwal, who runs his own company,  Chirag & Co in the same office,  said one-and-a-half years ago  Kanhaiyalal & Co. began purchasing maize seeds from Hasanpur city in Bihar to sell to various poultry farms. And around two months ago two  agriculture agents, Vibhuti Kumar Singh and Sanchi Kumar Singh from Hasanpur city had approached his father, warning him against doing business in their city as they were losing business. " We think that Vibhuti Kumar Singh and Sanchi Kumar Singh may have hired the contract killers to eliminate my father," he added. Mr Sidharth, employed with a reputed MNC located exactly opposite  the crime spot, said he was inside  his office interviewing a candidate when he heard firing. "It was around 2 pm when I heard the first shot  followed by three more. Before I could go and check, I saw the staff of the Kanhaiyalal and Co. rushing out of their office. They told me that three men just ran away after opening fire at their boss," he recalled. Police suspect thatthe assailants had done a recce of the office area as they knew exactly where to find Mr Kanhaiyalal. Additional Commissioner of Police (East) Seemanth Kumar Singh believes the assailants' intention was not to kill, but only to scare.    "Kanhaiyalal said  he had never received any sort of threat or had a tiff, be it personal or professional, with anyone. We suspect that the attack was to instil fear in him and extort money as the assailants  fired four rounds from outside Kanhaiyalal's glass cabin and all  four bullets missed their target. We have got a lead in the case and we will crack it soon,"  he added.  The armed men, who are suspected to be from Bihar, reportedly carried country-made pistols.