Bengaluru: Shock gripped the city of Bengaluru on Saturday, June 2, when a businessman was shot inside of his office at the Raheja Arcade in Koramangala in broad daylight.
Three men in full-face helmets, walked into the office of Kannaiah Lal (54) and fired three rounds from a country pistol on him, on Saturday afternoon. Luckily for the victim, he survived the assault. Koramangala is well known for being a highly commercial area, attracting scores of shoppers everyday. The fact that such a bold crime could be committed out in the open in the middle of the day, shocked everyone in the area.
Kannaiah Lal, a resident of Koramangala, is a dealer in maize and other farm products and proprietor of Farm India Impex Private Limited. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the attack was carried out as a hit ordered by a Bihar-based agent, due to a business deal that went south.
Police found that at around 2 pm, the shooters parked their bikes in front of Rajheja Arcade and, without taking off their helmets, walked to the businessman’s office that was located on the second floor. They managed to enter the office under the pretence of seeking jobs but, when the staff were unable to establish their credentials, a verbal argument broke out between the two parties. As soon as Kannaiah’s son, Chirag came out to intervene, one of the masked men pulled out his weapon and opened fire but, the bullet missed its mark. Kannaiah has also come out from another room by this time and the assailant fired three rounds at his target. One of the bullets hit Kannaiah in the head and he collapsed and his attackers fled from the scene.
Deputy commissioner of police (southeast) MB Boralingaiah and additional commissioner of police (East) Seemanth Kumar Singh, immediately rushed to the scene of the crime after they were alerted by the police control room.
Kannaiah Lal, severely injured but still alive, was rushed to St. John’s Hospital nearby, where medical professionals began treating his injuries. One of the doctors at the hospital said that Kannaiah’s skull had a fracture but, his condition was stabilised.
Kannaiah is in the business of buying produce from across the country and exporting the same. An agent by the name of Rajendra Agarwal in Bihar, tried to convince Lal and his son to buy maize from him for a commission of 0.5% (which comes up to Rs 30 lakhs). The Lals however, refused to do business with the man which raged him. He started threatening them and this continued for a while. Chirag said that in the months of January and March, some of the agent’s men came and tried to intimidate the Lals but, they did not buckle under the pressure. On the morning of the fateful day too, Kannaiah had received calls from Agarwal but, did not entertain any of them.
