An employee of a wine shop at Parel had a brush with death on Tuesday morning. He was shot by two unidentified men who came to the shop on the pretext of buying alcohol.
One of the assailants shot Ajit Panjwani, 30, manager of London Wine Shop opposite ITC Grand Maratha Hotel, three times and fled from the spot. The incident took place at 11.15am.
On hearing the gunshots, a police beat marshal patrolling the area ran towards the shop and saw the assailants running away.
As the constable chased them, the assailant dropped his weapon — an imported pistol with three live bullets.
According to the police, there were few customers in the shop at the time of the incident. A man approached Panjwani, who was at the cash counter, and asked him for a Vodka bottle and paid him Rs50.
While Panjwani was distracted hunting for change, another man walked into the shop. His face was covered with a handkerchief. Suddenly, he pulled out the pistol and opened fire, pumping three bullets in Panjwani.
Panjwani was taken to KEM Hospital. He was shot in his left hand, leg and back. He is now out of danger, the police said.
Sanjay Baviskar, DCP (Zone-IV), said: “The owner of the shop, Anand Kukreja, said he hadn’t received any extortion threats. The assailants were between 20 to 25 years of age. We are investigating all possible angles to find the reason for the attack,” he said.
Earlier in June, unidentified men had stolen Rs1.45 lakh from the
shop at gunpoint.
