BENGALURU: In broad daylight, a group of men barged into a seeds business firm in Raheja Arcade in Koramangala 7th Block and fired three rounds at the owner Kanhaiyalal Agarwal, (54) on Saturday. Agarwal escaped with minor injuries and a business dispute is said to be the motive behind the attack. Tension prevailed in the multi-storeyed commercial complex following the incident and police cordoned off a portion of the second floor.
A senior police officer said that the incident took place around 1.45 pm when one of the accused came to Agarwal’s chamber — who runs Farm India Impex Pvt Ltd — on the pretext of asking for a job. The office is located on the second floor and the security staff at the premises sent him out by informing that there is no vacancy. A few minutes later, four men who had covered their faces with masks, barged inside and opened fire from a pistol targeting Agarwal. He managed to escape from the bullets but one brushed his scalp. The staff who raised an alarm, tried to get hold the gang but were unsuccessful. Agarwal was rushed to St. John’s Hospital where he is recovering.
Chirag Agarwal an eye-witness and Agarwal’s elder son, said, “One-and-a-half-years ago, the company started purchasing maize seeds from Hasanpur city of Bihar.” Two months back, two agriculture agents, Vibhuti Kumar Singh and Sanchi Kumar Singh from Hasanpur city, had approached my father and warned him to shut down his business in their city as they were losing business. “One of the assailants took out his weapon and shot aiming at my father, who was sitting at around 15 feet distance in his glass cabin. My younger brother Rishi Agarwal who was in the cabin with my father, made him hide under the table. Another assailant also fired at him which hit the table, later on his head,” he added.
“We have clues about the accused and three special teams have been formed to crack the case. Preliminary investigations revealed that it the incident might be related to business rivalry. Agarwal’s statement is yet to be recorded by Koramangala police and it is learnt that Agarwal was importing and exporting seeds across the country including Bihar. A few days ago, he had received a call from Hasanpur and he was asked to stop importing seeds from Bihar. He was also threatened to share some money gained from his seeds business. But, Agarwal ignored the threat and continued his business. On Saturday afternoon, the accused repeatedly called on Agarwal’s phone number but he did not answer them. Following this, a gang came to his office and attacked him,” the officer added.
“The gang walked to the building and might have parked their vehicle somewhere else. CCTV footage was obtained to ascertain the movements of the accused and we are not ruling out that they might have taken supari to finish Agarwal,” Koramangala police said.