Chirag Agarwal is still reeling under the shock of witnessing his father being shot at by masked assailants. His father, Kannaiah Lal, 55 years old, was shot at by three men wearing helmets on their faces. Both Kannaiah and Chirag survived the attack.
The incident, which took place in broad daylight and in Bengaluru’s upscale Koramangala, has left the city stunned.
Fielding calls from the media and the police, Chirag says, "We got lucky. All three bullets hit the table under which my dad was crouching.”
Kannaiah is still in hospital, recovering from the ordeal.
At 1.55 pm on Saturday, when the employees of Farm India Impex Private Ltd. – of which Kannaiah is the owner – had stepped out for lunch, three masked assailants barged into the office and opened fire.
"I think they knew that the staff would leave at 2 pm for lunch and hoped to surprise us then," says Chirag.
According to him, the men gained entry to the office by saying that they were there looking for jobs: "They went straight to my dad's cabin. When the receptionist and other staff asked them what they wanted, they claimed that they wanted jobs. As a commotion erupted outside, my brother and I went to talk to them. That was when we realised one of them was completely drunk.”
While employees at the office immediately called for security, one of the men pulled out a pistol he was carrying in his pocket. "He walked up to dad's cabin and started shooting at my dad. He took four shots, one of which broke the glass down and then took three shots at my dad, who crouched under the table. All three shots luckily hit the table, but one of them caught him in the head over the ear,” says Chirag.
Another assailant also opened fire outside, in the meantime.
Seeing Kannaiah collapse, the attackers escaped on motor bikes. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) MB Boralingaiah and Additional Commissioner of Police (East) Seemanth Kumar Singh rushed to the spot after they were alerted by the police control room.
The investigation into the case has begun and Chirag suspects that the assault might be linked to his father’s business interests.
Kannaiah, a resident of Koramangala, is a trader in maize and other farm products. He purchases maize from different parts of the country and exports it. "We've been having issues. We are basically maize traders. We work out of Karnataka and Bihar as maize is grown here in India. We've had a bit of issue with one of the local agents in Hasanpur," says Chirag.
He also alleges that Rajendra Agarwal, a local agent in Hasanpur in Bihar, had previously threatened Kannaiah in the last five years. According to him, Rajendra had sent his aides to ask Kannaiah to pay a commission to him for any purchases he makes in Hasanpur, a threat Kannaiah did not pay heed to. "Last year, we worked there and there was no problem. Then, at the start of this year we started work and he sent somebody to threaten us saying if we want to work in that area again we will have to do it only through him. In March again, he sent two people to threaten us and since this had already happened once before, I took out my phone and took a recording of the threat. It has been submitted to the police," he claims.
He further alleges that another trader, Vikas Gupta, had called them up on Saturday saying he was being threatened by Rajendra too.
The police are yet to make an arrest in connection with the case and are analysing CCTV footage at the business complex to identify the assailants.