Dawood man shot dead

MUMBAI, May 31: Four unidentified men shot dead a Dawood Ibrahim gang member and injured his companion at Pushpa Colony in Malad east this...

MUMBAI, May 31: Four unidentified men shot dead a Dawood Ibrahim gang member and injured his companion at Pushpa Colony in Malad east this morning. The deceased, identified as Inderpal Sohan Singh Flora, was an extortionist and had several cases registered against him, police said. He was detained under National Security Act NSA in 1993.

Flora and his wife Neeta were asleep in their house when four men knocked at the door. When Neeta asked who was at the door, one of them identified himself as Sanjay. Flora probably knew this man, for he asked Neeta to open the door.

Even as Flora was getting out of his bed to meet the visitors, one of the assailants whipped out a pistol and opened fire on him. Flora was hit in the eye, chest and head. While one of the bullets ricocheted from a wall and got lodged in the calf of Rajendra Naidu, a close friend of Flora who was in the house at the time of the attack. The assailants then made good their escape. Flora and Naidu were rushed to the Bhagwati Hospital bytheir neighbours.

While Flora was declared dead on admission, Naidu is out of danger, doctors said.

Additional Commissioner of Police north-west region Satyapal Singh said: 8220;Flora was a D-gang member and had returned home drunk last night. It is too early to talk about the motive behind the murder, though old enmity cannot be ruled out.8221;

Flora had moved in with his wife only seven months ago into the Ranchubhai road which has very little traffic even during the day. His brothers occupied another part of the one-storeyed house.

Naidu who was discharged at 3 pm from the hospital said, 8220;I don8217;t know who is Sanjay. But it was on Inder8217;s Flora instance that Neeta opened the door. Then a youth came in and fired several rounds on Inder. Even before I could turn on my side, one of the bullets hit me in my leg.8221;

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Earlier, 22-year-old rickshaw driver Ejaz Sayed was attacked by four unidentified men at Sanjay Nagar, Ghatkopar at 10.40 pm on Saturday night. The assailants had assaulted Sayed withchopper and knives and had also fired at him.

Sayed was rushed to the Sion hospital for treatment. Sayed was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit after operation. However, he succumbed to his injuries at 2.30 am on Sunday. Flora is the fourth victim of shootouts within a span of 24 hours. Besides, Flora, Sayed, ward boy Ashok Pardesi and gangster Chandrakant Chauhan are others who were killed by firearms. The toll of shootout victims has now reached to 44 in the last five months alone.