Businessman survives after being shot in the head in his office by helmet-wearing intruders

Bengaluru, Jun 3: Three miscreants barged into the office of a prominent businessman at Raheja Arcade in Koramangala, an upmarket locality in southeast Bengaluru, on Saturday afternoon, and opened three rounds from a country-made pistol sending shockwaves across the business community.

helmet-wearing assailants opened three rounds from a countrymade pistol on a businessman inside his office at Raheja Arcade in Koramangala, an upmarket locality in southeast Bengaluru, on Saturday afternoon.

The target was Kannaiah Lal Agarwal, 54, a maize businessman and owner of Farm India Impex Private Limited. He is recovering at a hospital.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the attack was carried out at the behest of a Bihar-based operator, in the backdrop of a business deal that went awry.

According to police the assailants had parked their bikes on the road in front of the building around 2pm, and walked to the office on the second floor without removing their full-face helmets.

They gained entry into the office, stating that they had come seeking jobs. However, a verbal argument broke out between the staff and the men, when they failed to establish their credentials. Hearing the commotion, Lal’s son Chirag came out and intervened. One of the assailants pulled out a gun and fired. The bullet missed Chirag.

In the meantime, Lal rushed out of the other room. The assailant fired three rounds at Lal, and one of the bullets hit him in the head. Seeing Lal collapse on the floor, the assailants escaped on their bikes, police said.

Alerted by the police control room, deputy commissioner of police (Southeast) MB Boralingaiah and additional commissioner of police (East) Seemanth Kumar Singh rushed to the spot.

An injured Lal was shifted to St John’s Hospital. “He was shot in his head. He suffered a fracture in the skull and bruises as well. His condition was stabilised,” said Dr Sanjay Lewin of St John’s Hospital.

A resident of Koramangala, Lal was a trader in maize and other farm products. He would purchase the produce from different parts of the country and export it. Police sources peg Lal’s annual turnover at Rs 750-800 crore. A Bihar-based gang is suspected to be behind the attack.

Lal’s son Chirag told media persons: “We used to buy maize from Hasanpur in Bihar for Rs 50-60 crore, from an agent named Montu Singh who worked for a commission. But recently, there was trouble as another agent, Rajendra Agarwal, wanted us to buy from him. He used to threaten us with dire consequences if we didn’t source maize from him and give 0.5% commission (which amounts to almost Rs 30 lakh). We did not agree and continued to do our business. We were getting threats from him for a long time. In January and March, some of his men came and threatened us. However, we did not pay heed.”

Lal had received calls on his mobile phone from Agarwal on Saturday morning too but had not answered them, Chirag said.